A Tale of Two Thoughts
by MyNamesAreStolen
Summary: Zootopia AU picking up just after the press conference about the savage animals. Only this time, Judy doesn't find Nick afterwards. Filled with hurt and betrayal, Nick returns to the darker side of Zootopia, a side far worse than what the movie portrays. Rated M to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**(Author's Note)**

Alright guys, before we get started we have a few things to get off my plate.

1) This is my first fan fiction, so I'm not expecting the quality to be great and I'm not sure if I'll have enough spare time to continue.

2) I love betrayal/revenge, hurt/comfort, and angst stories, so this will be one of those. I might throw in a bit of romance, but no promises.

3) I don't care if Judy and Nick ship or not. I'll go where this story takes me. I do however, think that they make a very cute conglomerate of friendship

4) This will most likely remain a T-rated fic, I am uncomfortable writing anything too...romantic, and I don't know enough about, nor care to research about animal anatomy to do it justice.

5) I greatly appreciate any and all input. I am going to start my characters with how I think they would react based on their movies and develop their characters from there. If you think something is out of line, out of character, or out of place. TELL ME. If you see a grammar or spelling mistake you want corrected. TELL ME. If you have a brilliant idea to expand the plot. TELL ME!

6) I don't own any of the Zootopian Intellectual Properties, I am not doing this for profit, yada yada.

Alright, on to the story. This story starts just after the press conference, during the scene where Judy disappoints Nick the most.

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts**

 **(J)Show me what it's for / (N)Am I going insane?**

Judy hopped off the podium still stressing about the press conference. She had tried to follow Nick's advice and answer the questions asked with another question, but she had quickly become overwhelmed and forgotten. She was worried that in her rush to answer some of the questions being shouted at her, and to put the minds of Zootopians at ease, she may have revealed too much about the case.

"Was I O.K.?" Judy asked mayor Belleweather as she was led off the stage.

"Oh you did fine." Was the soothing response from Belleweather as she gave Judy a gentle nudge towards Nick.

Nick, her best friend in Zootopia, and hopefully soon to be partner in the ZPD. Judy really hoped that Nick would decide to join her as she thought they made quite an amazing team together. As she approached him however, she could tell that something was not right. It was in his face, the face that was usually graced with a smug smirk or a sly smile held something ugly in it. A cross between a grimace and a snarl barely noticeable over his usual display.

 _He must be mad that I didn't give him any credit._ Judy thought, suddenly feeling slightly ashamed of herself for neglecting to mention the pivotal role that this fox, Nick, had played in solving the case.

"Uh, that went so fast! I didn't get a chance to mention you or say anything about how we…" she tried to explain. However, her apology was cut short.

"Oh I think you've said plenty." Nick cut her off, his eyes narrowing.

This reaction confused Judy, she had expected him to be upset about her lack of words, not about her having spoken too much.

"What do you mean?" She asked, allowing her confusion to show on her face.

"Clearly there's a biological component? These predators may be…reverting back to their primitive, savage ways? Are you serious?" Nick parroted her own words back at her, his voice filled with disappointment and disbelief.

Judy was shocked, this was not how she had envisioned her talk with Nick going. _He is mad at me for telling the press my theory about why these animals went savage?_ Somehow, the tone of Nick's voice set her on the defensive.

"I just stated the facts of the case." Judy said, trying to explain herself to Nick. _Wrong words dumb bunny._ As she saw his face fall even further. "I mean, it's not like a bunny could go savage." Judy reasoned. After all, she was right. None of the animals going savage were prey, they were all predators, and she had never even heard of a bunny exhibiting overly aggressive behavior.

"Right, but a fox could, huh?" Nick responded with barely concealed anger.

Judy couldn't understand where this anger was coming from. It wasn't like she had said that foxes were behind the transformation from normal to savage. As far as she was aware, there had not yet been a case of a fox going savage. How had Nick come to that conclusion?

"Nick stop it." Judy tried to soothe the fox "You're not like them." She said as she tried desperately to get him back to her side.

"Oh there's a 'them' now?" Nick asked, the expression on his face showing Judy that she had said exactly the wrong words to the angry fox. She had to get this under control and fast, or else she might risk losing her friend.

"You know what I mean, you're not that kind of predator!" Judy said, trying to make Nick understand that she hadn't said those things about him, that she still wanted him as her partner.

Suddenly, Nick exploded into the most furious outburst she had ever seen from him. To a normal mammal it would have seemed like he was slightly annoyed or exasperated, but Judy had seen him at work. She'd seen his reactions and talked to him about his emotions, and she knew that even now, he was trying his hardest to not let anyone see that this got to him. The clear show of anger on his face, the tension in his muscles, and the agitated way his tail was starting to move, all signaled to Judy one thing.

Nick was furious.

"The kind that needs to be muzzled!?" Nick almost yelled, raising his paw to the projected images of the savage animals in muzzles. Judy turned to look at the screen and saw, for the first time, the black and white pictures of the savage animals muzzled, tied down, and caged. Seeing this brought back the memory of the one time Nick had shared something personal with her, the story of his own muzzling.

At this point Judy's brain was starting to comprehend why Nick was so furious, but it wasn't quite clear yet. Before she could puzzle it out however, Nick continued his outburst.

"The kind that makes you think you need to carry around Fox Repellent?" He said gesticulating to her belt.

Judy looked down and saw the bottle of fox repellent on clear display at her hip. She had forgotten that she was still carrying it around. Quickly she remembered why she even had it on her uniform in the first place. Starting with her disbelief at her father's overt prejudice she had taken the bottle as a way to placate him without seeming as prejudiced as he was. She had then decided to leave the bottle on her table when she had left for work. Yet in a moment of weakness, thinking it was better to be safe than sorry, she had come back and retrieved the bottle to place it on her belt. She had even been prepared to use it on Nick when she saw him enter the Elephant Ice-cream shop when they first met. The feeling of shame she'd felt back then returned to her now one hundred fold as she knew she would never have a need to use it on this fox.

"Yeah don't think I didn't notice that little item the first time we met." Nick continued. In truth, he hadn't noticed it the first time, but the second time. At this point though he was too mad to care. He was getting so riled up about this bunny and her words that he decided it was time to lash out, make her feel some of the pain that he was feeling. Why did she still have that stupid bottle anyways?

\- Flashback -

Nick thought back to when Judy had first hustled him into joining her. At first he'd been able to maintain his condescension towards the ZPD and the authority that had caused him so much grief. However, when she brought out his tax forms and was going through them right in front of him, he'd started to worry. He knew that the appropriate reaction would be anger, so he let a small part of his mind focus on his hatred for Zootopia, how all these smug little mammals thought they were so good with their "anyone can be anything" slogan, rallying behind it as if it made them better mammals. But Nick had seen the truth behind the lies. Sure, anyone could be anything, so long as that anything fit within the stereotypes that those in control held for you. In this **great** city, a fox who had done nothing wrong was still discriminated harshly against, sloths were assigned jobs where they were intended to slow down others, and many, many other small slights occurred every day. The small predators had it the worst however, as prey still greatly feared predator, despite the fact that predators hadn't consumed mammal meat in over two thousand years, despite the fact that most predators thought the idea of eating another mammal to be disgusting, despite the fact that there were prey animals many times their size and much more dangerous walking around with no fear directed towards them. Zootopia's slogan was just a flowery band-aid attempting to patch the festering wound that was the speciesism within.

While a part of Nick's mind was running down that all-to-familiar road, controlling his ear, facial and tail muscles to make him look angry, another part of his mind focused on this new problem.

"Actually it's your word against yours" Judy said as she played that stupid recording of his voice bragging about his income.

The recording wasn't a problem, it could easily be dismissed as a bit of braggadocio used to avoid helping the cop, even in a case of "his word against his" as the cop had put it. The balance of probability fell closer to him not having made enough money to declare on his taxes. After all, that fell right within the prejudiced expectations for a fox. Barely making ends meet while scamming and scheming for their next meal.

The problem, in Nick's mind, was what the bunny cop was carrying on her belt. A bottle of Fox repellent. Nick had been sprayed with the stuff plenty of times before. To this day it still remains on the top of his list of the worst things he'd ever experienced, even above the life-threatening injuries he'd occasionally sustained. The stuff burned like the fires of hell, and stuck to the fur. That alone wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that most mammals sprayed foxes directly in the face with it. When sprayed in the face, fox repellent caused extreme pain in the eyes. The victim also had to be careful not to blink too much lest they accidentally blind themselves by damaging their retina with the spray still in their eyes. It got into the nose and airways burning their airways with every breath as well as a coughing fit to aggravate the pain even more. It burned the lungs, not just for a brief period, but for days after being sprayed. And it stuck in the fur continuing to work its damage on the unfortunate victim until it had been washed off and the fur shaved away. Nick personally thought that the inventor of the stuff should have been tortured to death.

The presence of the fox repellent on this cop's belt signaled two things to him. First, she was afraid of foxes in particular and would likely be willing to use it. This was not surprising to nick as she was a bunny, an animal which has irrationally feared predators since before written history. Second, the existence of fox spray combined with the lack of a tranquilizer implied that behind that cheery smile and overly joyful display was an animal who reveled in the pain she caused to foxes. Tranquilizer worked just as well on foxes as it did other animals. Fox repellent was simply the ultimate form of excessive violence and pain compliance. One used tranquilizer when they wanted control, fox repellent when they wanted to cause pain. Nick had to be extremely careful to not give her any reason to spray him, and even then she might do it anyways.

"…and if you want this pen you're going to help me find this poor missing otter or the only place you'll be selling pawpsicles is the prison cafeteria. It's called a hustle sweetheart." Judy continued ranting.

'Wait what?' Nick mentally stumbled. She didn't want to take him to prison? She wasn't going to interrogate him for information and spray him under the guise of interrogation? She just wanted his help?

At this point Finnick had decided to diffuse the situation by playing off of the mental discord caused by the difference in his voice and appearance. As Finnick left Nick with the cop, having sufficiently calmed both down, Nick gave the Fennec fox his gratitude. Once again, his mentor had likely saved his butt from doing something stupid.

\- End flashback -

Over the course of their adventure together trying to solve the case, Nick observed the bunny cop closely, all the while trying to seem nonchalant and disdainful of authority. What he saw shocked him. She was obviously quite aware of the stereotypes surrounding foxes, but had chosen to ignore them. Treating Nick, for the most part, as just another mammal. One she could joke around with, one she could trust, and even one she was willing to put her life at risk to save. He'd thought she was different, that she truly did shirk the prejudice that the rest of Zootopia seemed intent on preserving. However, after this disaster of a press conference, Nick wasn't so sure.

"So l-let me ask you a question. Are you afraid of me?" He continued, almost concealing the delay caused by his memories and thought processes resurfacing. He paused to give Judy time to answer.

Judy, for her part was shocked. She heard the question, she knew the answer. _No!_ She wanted to shout, but a part of her wouldn't let her do it. A part of her was shocked that Nick would even think that, after all they'd been through, after everything she'd done to demonstrate that she wasn't just another prejudiced bunny. Another part of her wouldn't let her answer 'no' as it was starting to fear the angry expression on the fox's face. She wasn't afraid that he'd hurt her, she was afraid of his anger. Finally, a third part of her was only now beginning to grasp exactly why Nick was so upset. She had just given everyone in the press conference a reason to confirm their prejudices against predators, prejudices which had so obviously scarred and shaped Nick his entire life.

As Judy stared at her friend in a mixture of shock, fear and mortification at what she'd done, he continued.

"Do you think I might go nuts? Do you think I might go **savage**? Do you think I might try to…EAT YOU!" Nick interrogated, allowing his anger to make him emphasize his last words both verbally and physically. What he saw next confirmed his worst fears, and crushed his newly growing hopes. For in that moment, he had scared Judy, and she had responded. In the moment it took Nick to calm down he had noticed three things. First, Judy had raised a paw between herself and him, as if trying to ward him off. Second, she had taken a step back, prepared to run. Thirdly, she had unsecured the bottle of fox repellent and had her paw hovering over it, ready to use it.

"I knew it." Nick sighed dejectedly.

At these words Judy felt her heart start to calm, and with her calming down her mind had caught up with her body. Nick had frightened her. She was scared, and she had prepared to use the fox repellent on instinct. Maybe she hadn't simply forgotten it was there after all.

"Just when I'd thought somebody actually believed in me huh?" Nick said, disappointment and self-loathing dripping from his voice.

This time Judy knew how she'd hurt Nick. Not only did she know how she'd hurt him, but she knew that she'd hurt him badly. By showing that she did, in fact, fear the fox. She had confirmed to him that she was still prejudiced, especially since she'd had no reason to fear him. Worse still she'd crushed his newly growing optimism and returned him to the dark, cold embrace of his pessimistic reality. She had only recently gotten him to open up to her, and she'd realized that his pessimism was developed in response to the prejudice he'd had to face daily. She knew that through their interactions, he was starting to hope that a fox could actually have real friends among the prey animals. And she'd destroyed that.

Judy had to fix this, had to tell him that he was her best friend! _You've got to tell him how much he means to you_! As she opened her mouth and tried to say his name while reaching out to him, he continued.

"Probably best if you don't have a predator as a partner." He said, stuffing her outstretched paw with the application form she had only recently given him.

Mortification and curiosity temporarily overtaking her, she opened the folded form to see that he had filled it out entirely. He truly had wanted to join her on the ZPD as a partner. As she looked up from the form, she noticed that he was already at the doors to leave the ZPD conference hall. The sunlight streaming in as a bright affront to how Judy's heart felt as it was breaking in two.

"No! Nick!" She blurted out as she ran after him. Only to be stopped by a horde of reporters who suddenly got in her way. Sure they let the fox out, nobody wanted to hear what a fox had to say, or trusted what they said anyways, but they all wanted to hear from her what the confrontation had been about. The reporter's questions, their bodies, and their insensitivity had effectively forced Judy to a stop, forcing her to simply watch as Nick disappeared into the brilliant light outside, like a lost soul leaving the mortal plane. Judy felt as if she had killed Nick.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note**

Thanks for the reads guys! I am glad I've gotten a few followers for the mere price of 3,000 words!

Remember, this is only my first fic, so if there's something you'd like to see, or a critique you'd like to give, please leave a review! It helps me to improve and deliver a better story to you guys!

Copyright stuff: I don't own the copyright to any zootopia characters, nor am I making a profit. I probably should get a better copyright disclaimer. Who cares.

Back to the story!

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts**

 **(J)Make me understand it / (N)My blood is boiling inside of my veins**

Nick left the ZPD and headed towards his apartment. He was furious, both at himself and at the bunny cop Judy Hopps. Furious with himself because he'd broken his motto and furious with the bunny because of the repercussions he foresaw stemming from her speech.

 _Never let 'em see that they get to you._ He repeated the motto to himself mentally, going over it like a mantra. After the thirtieth time repeating it to himself he felt his facial muscles start to relax. The snarl left his muzzle, his eyes relaxed back to their half-lidded gaze and his ears returned to a more natural position on his head. Most mammals thought that foxes were sly because they could control their expressions to deceive other animals. Nick had never known a fox that was able to do that. Most animals could control their tails, ears, and facial muscles consciously to varying degrees, but that conscious control was almost always overridden by any strong emotions that they were feeling. For Nick, the trick had been not to attempt to control his muscles, but to control his emotions. Prey animals were either scared or un-trusting of an agitated fox, so he knew he had to calm down before the wrong mammal saw him in this state.

When he'd finally calmed down enough that he felt he would be safe to interact with other mammals without scaring them off or inviting an attack on his person he brought his mind back to the reason for his anger.

Judy Hopps. The bunny who had fooled him into thinking she had broken the mold, had cast off the prejudices that saturated Zootopia and the surrounding boroughs. The bunny whose bright attitude and honest wish to help others had led him to believe Zootopia could become a welcoming place, even for a fox. But he had been wrong.

It was not, after all, his pessimistic and cynical view of Zootopia and its mammalian inhabitants that was wrong, it was her optimism. For despite her conscious and rational actions to befriend the fox, she still held her fears and prejudices towards him. She still held the backwards bunny beliefs that evolution had somehow neglected the predatory animals and that they were still a threat.

 _Dumb bunny_. Nick thought to himself, he should have known better. He should have known that nobody would trust a fox.

Nick scowled as he looked up and realized he was already back in Happy Town, the unofficial predatory slums of Zootopia. It had happened again; he'd gotten so lost within his own musings that he just seemed to appear at his old stomping grounds. Looking around he noted the few children of predatory animals still playing in the streets. It was after school hours and so Nick had expected to see the kits and cubs, pups and kittens playing in the streets. He was not disappointed as he saw a small group run by playing with a stitched together soccer ball. Nick allowed a small smile to flit to his maw when they ran by. That smile disappeared shortly after however as he remembered the press conference.

When they rescued the savage mammals Nick had observed that they were all predators. Their sizes may have varied, their traditional and stereotypical habitats had varied as well, the only glaring similarity was that they were predators. Nick had known that the press would jump on this similarity, those cowardly mammals would of course only have looked to the obvious. Not even having a predatory mayor, elected by the people, or predatory news anchors would dissuade them from jumping to their fearful conclusions.

Nick had not been surprised at the least when one reporter had asked if the ZPD had considered a mandatory quarantine for predators. He'd scoffed when she'd asked that question. Many predators were barely scraping by as it was. Imposing a mandatory quarantine would destroy their capacity to support themselves, not that the cowards cared about the lives of the predators they so feared.

What had surprised him. Though had been Judy. He was so proud when she'd circumvented the first question which had attempted to label the savages as predators by saying that they were all different species. Even when she'd gotten flustered she had managed to say that the ZPD didn't know what was causing the outbreak. But then the bunny had become overwhelmed. For some reason Nick didn't understand, she'd felt it important to give those cowards the answers they were searching for. She hadn't spoken the "facts of the case", she'd given conjecture, based on fear and superstition, completely unfounded by the current scientific literature.

And she had destroyed everything. Nick knew upon hearing her words that she'd just given all of the prey mammals a reason to fear predators again. That the stigma of the past would return. Once the news conference was edited and broadcast the fear of predators would return full force. Some mammals may show that fear overtly by isolating predators from prey or even attacking weaker predators. Some may show that fear covertly and simply make attempts to keep themselves away from predators. Either way, predators would be distrusted and avoided.

If the distrust continues to build, Nick could predict that the predatory animals would soon lose their jobs, be evicted from their residencies under false pretenses, and maybe even have their freedom of movement revoked under the guise of curfews or quarantines.

This is what had infuriated Nick. Finnick had made him read the entire history of Zootopia and dedicate it to memory. Despite his appearance, Finnick was a smart fox and had often repeated to Nick 'those who forget the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them' in not so many words. Nick knew that in Zootopia's founding days the predators had been distrusted and feared, that was the beginning of the Happy Town ghetto that he was currently in. Even now, predatory animals were still struggling to escape the stigma, the prejudice, and the financial desolation that came with the status of predator. Back then they had all had to group together and provide for themselves, completely isolated from the rest of Zootopia, despite the city claiming that they were members of its society. Nick feared that such times would soon be upon them again.

Nick once again emerged from his musings to find himself outside of the apartment building where he resided. It was a small place, with small rooms and few amenities. It was however a building that allowed cash payments, which had suited Nick just fine as it prevented a paper trail from forming around him. Nick walked through the front door, took the stairs down to the first basement level and walked over to his room. After fishing his keys out from a secret pocket on the inside of his pants, he unlocked the door and walked into his small room.

Nick looked around his room slowly, his plan returning and refining itself. He knew that in the coming hardships he wouldn't be able to hustle mammals as easily. The native distrust of foxes could usually be circumvented by either playing into it, or by adopting such an amiable attitude that other mammals felt guilty about their initial distrust. But with the added fear of predatory animals going savage, he doubted any prey animal would give him the time of day.

The first part of his plan was to salvage any goods he had that could be sold. He would need money in the future as his hustles would become harder and harder to pull off. Nick also fully anticipated a time where he would not be able to afford rent. After all, what good is a roof over your head if you can't afford to feed yourself. When that time came and he had to leave this building, he did not want to have to worry about carrying around and protecting his physical possessions.

With that thought in mind he started scavenging his room for anything that could be sold. He'd gathered most of his good clothes, leaving only 2 outfits for each varying habitat in Zootopia which he'd packed into a small suitcase. Nick had also managed to find three trophies from his youth that were made out of real gold, a small collection of CDs, his old CD player, and his cellphone. Of course he'd keep his cellphone. Zootopia provided free cell service to all mammals and he would use that resource for as long as he could.

The rest however, needed to be…liquidated. So he'd gathered it all into his laundry basket and left his apartment, looking for the appropriate locations to turn his material goods into cash.

* * *

Judy had finally managed to get away from all the nosy, noisy, and narcissistic reporters. She was still confused about Nick's actions earlier on top of that was now also emotionally distraught. She approached Chief Bogo's office and knocked on his door.

"Enter" came his deep, and somehow caring voice.

Judy opened the door slowly, ears flat against her back as she timidly walked in.

"Chief?" She asked, concern over Nick's reaction to her conference still evident in her eyes and voice.

"Did I do…alright?"

The built buffalo put down the paper he was currently working on, took off his reading glasses and sighed deeply as he put them on the table.

"What do you mean Hopps?" He asked in a tone of voice that made it evident that he expected Judy to come to her own conclusions on this question.

Judy climbed slowly onto the over-sized chair in front of the police chief's desk. Climbed because she didn't feel like she had the energy to make the jump.

"Sir I…during the conference I… I don't know, something I said had seriously angered Nick and I've never seen him show any emotion other than smugness before without good reason. Did I…did I say something wrong?" Judy choked out as she felt her throat start to close up and her eyes start to water at the memory of Nick's anger.

Chief Bogo sighed and rubbed his head between his horns. He knew that this moment, this time, was integral to the rabbit cop's development. What he said right now could destroy her, and strangely, Zootopia as well. He could try and soothe her, which would make her more emotionally stable as a cop, but would also lead to grave consequences for Zootopia. Or, he could try to make her discover what she had done, which might end up killing her, but held the best chances for Zootopia to recover from this case.

"Hopps." He started. "Did the fox tell you why he was upset?" The buffalo asked, cursing himself for what he was about to do.

"No sir." Judy responded.

"Good, because you can't trust the words of a fox."

Judy visibly stiffened at that comment, her ears perking forwards and a little fight returned to her eyes. All throughout her work with Nick he had never lied to her. Been cynical yes, condescending, yes, but he had never lied. She couldn't believe it, even the chief of the ZPD was showing overt prejudice against a fox, one that had proven the prejudice wrong time and again.

"To truly understand him, you must look to his actions." Continued the buffalo, with some empathy returning to his voice. "When did he become the most agitated, excluding when you almost sprayed him?"

Shame flooded through Judy once more at remembering how she had lost her friend, how she had shown both him and herself that she wasn't truly above the prejudice she claimed to hate. Her ears wilted again but she determinedly searched her memories for when Nick had been the most agitated.

"It was after I said that I had just stated the facts of the case, and that a bunny couldn't go savage." She responded slowly, confirming mentally that this was the turning point.

"And did you?" Chief Bogo led on.

"Sir?" Judy asked, her ears focusing on him once more, and her nose twitching in confusion.

"Did you or did you not state only the facts of the case Hopps! Do you **know** for a fact that a bunny could not go **savage** as you put it?"

"Sir I…" Judy started before realization dawned on her. She had not stated the facts of the case. The facts of the case were simple. These animals were currently in a ferocious and mindless state. They had been picked up by the Mayor Lionheart's squad of timber-wolves. The mayor was trying to discover why they had become that way, and the scientist had stated that it was time they look into the animal's biology for a cause.

Judy, in her ignorance had assumed that the scientist was referencing their predatory species, and had answered the conference questions with condescending statements about how predators may be genetically predisposed to violence and insanity. She had completely ignored the possibilities of a biological reaction to a contaminant, an influenza outbreak, or a drug causing these effects in the mammals. All of which and more could have been encompassed by the phrase "consider their biology". Furthermore, just because there hadn't been a case of a savage bunny yet, did not mean that a bunny could not, in fact, go savage.

Judy felt like a fool. She had, although unintentionally, allowed her prejudice to make her say horrible things. Horrible things against an entire group of citizens on the basis of their species, without even knowing the true cause.

"Realized something have you?" The buff buffalo asked the reticent rabbit.

Judy was brought out of her thoughts with the question. She had just realized where she went wrong. What she'd said to make Nick so upset. Nick, who'd had to face prejudice and discrimination all of his life, discrimination which turned him from a cub scout to a con-artist. She'd tried to show him that prejudices were changing, and then she'd brought them back full force.

"I need to call the reporters back! Tell them I was wrong! Tell them I lied!" She started to scurry off her chair.

"Hopps!" Chief Bogo yelled out before she had even managed to drop down from the chair. "Stay. What's done is done. They will air this press conference no matter what you say. All you can do now is try to assist predator and prey relations until the reason for the outbreak of **savage** mammals is discovered."

For the next two weeks, that is exactly what Judy Hopps did. She spent time with the Ottertons, tried to keep the peace at rallies, arrested and dissuaded assaults on predators from frightened prey, and kept an eye out for Nick. She continued to do her police work, but never caught sight of her favorite fox again.

* * *

Nick was returning to his apartment building after having finally sold the last of his stuff. It had been a difficult week trying to get a fair price on his material possessions, but he knew that as time went on it would get more difficult. The cause of the savage animals had still not been found, and the news was reporting more and more incidents of anti-predator discrimination among the prey animals. So it was with a heavy heart that opened the door to his apartment building.

When the door swung open, the sight he was met with shocked the fox. There, standing in the hallway were no less than seven predatory animals, arms crossed and stony gazed. The manager of the building, an old badger by the name of Gussik approached him.

"Nick, we have to talk." He started "Privately." Gussik emphasized as he looked at the other mammals in the hall.

The other mammals grumbled and shuffled off to their rooms, closing their doors behind them.

Nick stared at Gussik. To say that this was unusual was an understatement. Nick had first met Gussik through the badger's ex-wife Honey. While they had separated, it was on friendly terms and Honey had recommended this apartment to Nick so that he could get back a place to live that wasn't dependent on Finnick. True to Honey's word, Gussik was a generally amicable if not private badger who avoided interacting even with his tenants. When he did have to interact however, it was always friendly and understanding. Nick sensed that this time was different.

Gussik started to lead the way to his office and Nick followed behind him, neither saying a word until they had entered the office and Gussik had closed the door.

"Nick, I'm afraid I have to kick you out." Started the badger.

Nick was shocked. He'd never been late on a payment, he'd kept his apartment clean, never complained about the neighbours, and done several favors for Honey which he thought Gussik appreciated. He'd thought Gussik was his friend.

"Sir I…" Nick started, getting ready to make his case for why he should be allowed to stay. However, the badger silenced him with a raised paw and a look of sympathy in his eyes.

"It's not for me Nick. It's not that I don't like you. I _do_ like you. It's for your own safety." The badger started, his voice even more gruff than usual.

"How is being made homeless for my own safety?" Nick asked, confused. Nick was good at reading other mammals, the badger was being genuine, and he could hear real concern in Gussik's voice.

"The other mammals in this building have started filing… complaints about you. They noticed that you were the fox working the **savage** case with officer Hopps. They think you had something to do with the press conference, or that at the least, you failed to stop it. They think you have betrayed them." Sighed the badger as he slowly outlined to Nick the reason why he was being kicked out.

"Complaints aren't the worst of it either. Some have made threats against you, and I believe that they are serious. You need to leave before you are seriously injured or…worse." Gussik's voice hitched at this.

"Then just kick them out! Why would you kick out me instead?" Nick asked, confused as to why Gussik would not just kick out the problematic tenant.

"Because it's not just one tenant. It's all of them. And to be honest Nick, I also feel like you betrayed us. You should have stopped her. You're a fox! You should have seen this coming and prevented it!" The hitch was back in the badger's voice. Nick realized that this conversation was getting emotional for the badger.

After taking a moment to collect himself again the badger sighed. "I can give you back your last month's rent, as well as give you two days to clear out your apartment. I'm afraid I must also tell you not to visit Honey for a while, she's furious at you. You know how we badgers can get with our anger. Maybe you can go back to Finnick, he's always looked out for you before. But you can't stay here."

Nick realized that this was Gussik's way of trying to convince the fox to leave. It wasn't a bad deal over all. It just hurt to know that he wasn't welcome here. Hurt to know that even Gussik blamed him in some part for what was said at the press conference. He also noticed the anger in Gussik's eyes. Anger directed at Nick, at what Nick was making the badger do, and partly at the badger himself for doing it.

"I… I will go sir." Said Nick, swallowing back his own emotions. _Never let them see they get to you_. He mentally stabilized himself before continuing. "If you can give me my months rent back as well as some cash for a cab, I can vacate my apartment right now. I've already sold most of my possessions anyways."

"Thank you Nick." Said the badger with relief as he fished out a wad of cash from his drawer, as well as grabbing a few bills from his wallet. "Good luck."

Nick nodded, taking the money and walking out the door with his ears down, and tail dragging along the floor.

* * *

Nick had managed to contain and control his emotions during the cab ride to where he had last seen Finnick's van. After thanking the driver, paying him, and retrieving his suitcase Nick started to look for the familiar van.

Not seeing the van in the immediate vicinity he started to walk around the streets. The fennec fox had always liked to park the van in less seen places. It kept him safe from thugs and police alike. So Nick decided to search some of the darker haunts for his mentor.

It was in the fifth ally that Nick saw something that made his blood boil. A gang of beavers were surrounding a medium sized mound of fur, all facing outwards, and pounding the mound with their tails. From the mound, Nick heard small whimpers and feeble cries for help. From the beavers he heard something much worse.

"Filthy pred, you shouldn't even be out at this time! Don't you know there's a curfew? What? You starting to go savage? I guess we'll just have to beat the savage out of you!" One beaver taunted while being jeered on by the others.

"Maybe we should bite him so he knows how it feels! That should stop him from going savage!" One of the beavers said as he turned around, a cruel glint in his eyes.

Nick had to stop them. A beaver's teeth were extremely sharp, sharper than most predators. Furthermore, their jaw strength meant they could do some serious damage, even to the bear cub Nick was starting to identify the mound of fur as.

Nick took out his phone and pretended like he'd just rounded the corner. "Hello boys. Out late are we?" He asked with a drawl to his voice. "I just thought you should know, I'd heard the whimpering of a wounded animal down this ally so I went ahead and called the ZPD for an ambulance." He continued to drawl as he made a show of pocketing his phone.

The beavers all gave the fox a hateful glare. Debating as to whether he was telling the truth or not. Finally, they decided that it wasn't worth their hide and they all ran out of the ally. As they ran past Nick one of them spat out "Your time will come fox!" with as much venom as Nick had ever heard. "If only I had a dollar for every time I've heard that line." He quipped at the beaver's retreating back.

Once the beavers were gone Nick slowly approached the bear cub on the ground. As far as he could see, it wasn't exhibiting any of the signs of the **savage** animals he and Judy had saved. This was just a normal, and terrified bear cub.

"How are you doing buddy?" The fox asked as he cautiously approached the cub. The only answer he got was muffled whimpering. "Can you stand?" Nick continued to question the cub. The response this time was a small shake of the head. _No_. Nick weighed his options. The cub was too big for him to carry, and he didn't know the extent of its injuries. It was probably best to let a medical team take care of him.

"I'm going to call an ambulance for you. They will take you to the hospital and look after you. Is that alright?" He asked, concern for the cub starting to show in his voice. Head nod. _Yes_.

So Nick sighed as he opened his phone and called the ZPD.

After he finished the call and was certain an ambulance was on its way he analyzed his predicament. Here before him was a wounded animal. After treating and studying the wounds it would be clear that they were inflicted by beavers, if the cub's testimony didn't make it clear. The only problem was that the cub was probably too terrified to testify against his attackers. Nick could, but nobody believes a fox, they'd probably assume that he'd done the attack himself and tried to pin it on the beavers, or that he'd conned the beavers into mugging the cub for him. Either way, it did not bode well for Nick to be around when the ZPD showed up. Even so, he could not bring himself to just leave the cub.

So Nick hid himself further in the alleyway. He'd found a nice dumpster to hide behind while he observed the cub until the ambulance arrived.

After a while an ambulance did arrive, but nobody exited it. _Strange_. thought Nick. _Maybe they are just preparing the medical supplies?_ He doubted it. Shortly after a police cruiser pulled up beside the ambulance and a rhinoceros and hippopotamus stepped out. They approached the cub slowly and cautiously and Nick hoped that the ambulance staff just hadn't left because they were too small to lift the cub. He smiled to himself glad that the rhino and hippo would be large enough to do the lifting. His smile faded however when he caught a glimpse of the metallic object the rhino was holding. He focused his night-vision on the object and discovered that it was a muzzle.

Nick watched in horror as the ZPD roughly pulled the cubs face up, and proceeded to muzzle it, the cub whimpering all the while. They then roughly picked it up and practically threw it in the ambulance, but not before, Nick noticed, they had tranquilized the poor cub.

Cold fury washed over Nick. These animals were called to help the cub, not abuse it. The paramedics were supposed to treat injuries not cower until the cops had manhandled the victim into the ambulance. The ZPD were supposed to serve and protect, not muzzle and manhandle.

 _Serve and protect._ He thought. _What a joke_. That decided it, Nick was never going to trust anything to the prejudiced and cruel hands of the ZPD again. In fact, if he ever had the chance to, he would bring it down.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Author's Notes)**

1) First of all, I'd like to thank all my readers so far. I am still looking for any and all reviews to improve my writing.

2) I'd heard you monsters enjoy the use of descriptions to set the ambiance. I personally don't care for flowery descriptions of every detail on every leaf of the damn tree that the couple are having a picnic under. So I'm testing a compromise. Please let me know if you prefer more or less descriptions.

3) For any of you that care, I apologize for the delay in this chapter, not that you're entitled to it.

4) A little break for Nick before things get worse. Don't worry, things will eventually start to get better, but hold on to your little heart-strings as things must first get worse...a lot worse.

5) Copyright disclaimer, I own the zebra and the lion, all other copyrights belong to their respective owners. No profits, yada yada.

Finally, on to the show

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts**

 **(J)I've been crawling in the dark / (N)An evil feeling attacks**

Once Nick was sure that the ZPD officers and the paramedics had left the scene he reached behind him to pick up his suitcase. Wincing as he noticed that it had picked up some of the grime and grease leaking out of the dumpster he was hiding behind. Quietly he snuck out of the grimy alley and continued his search for Finnick's worn-down red van.

Nick finally found the van hiding in a darkened alley in the north-east corner of the Downtown district. Parked just off of Lionheart Avenue. The van was in the perfect location to drive quickly between the Rainforest District, Tundra Town, and Sahara Square. A good place for a hustle, and with lots of retreat options if necessary. Nick looked around noticing that the closest street light was close enough to light up any approaching mammal, but far enough way that you couldn't make out any markings on the van, nor see in through the windows. _Classic Finnick._ he smirked.

Suddenly recalling the previous events of the night, Nick became a bit nervous about being in a darkened alley and rushed over to the van, eager for the safety it provided and the comforts of the company to be found within.

Knock. Knock.

"Little toot toot, it's me Nick!" He said in a quiet, yet jovial voice. "Open up would you?"

The back door to the van opened just a crack, the little fennec fox peering out.

"What do you want Nick?" asked the little fox, his voice huskier than usual.

"Nothing much, just to hang out, talk about old times, maybe plan a hustle." Nick replied with a small smirk.

"No."

"No?"

"No."

"Hey Finnick. Come on, please? I got kicked out of my apartment today. Could I just stay with you tonight?" Nick struggled to keep the whine out of his voice. _Don't let 'em see that they get to you._

"No. Find somewhere else." Huffed the fennec fox as he slammed the door shut. Nick's ears fell so flat they appeared to be hugging his skull. He couldn't believe it. Finnick was rejecting him too? Nick started to walk away from the van, further into the dark alley. He did not want to be seen right now.

 _I should have guessed._ He thought. _Finnick is a smart fox, if the other predators at my apartment figured out that I was involved in the press conference, I'm sure Finnick did too. He probably blames me just as much as they do. More, since he practically raised me._

Nick was so lost in his musings that he didn't even hear the feminine voice whispering in the truck.

"Is he gone? Did you not want any interruptions my little sweet-pea?" pouted the voice

"He's gone. I feel bad for turning him away though." Came Finnick's gruff reply.

"What? Is he handsome? Think he'd be willing to join us?" The female voice again, a little curiosity peaking.

Finnick chuckled. "He's handsome alright, but I don't think you're quite his type."

* * *

Once Nick was far enough into the alley to be out of sight, sandwiched between a dumpster and the neighbouring wall he let his tears flow freely. He couldn't believe it, even his old mentor had rejected him as a result of the stupid ZPD conference. Feared by prey, rejected by predators. He was once again truly alone for the first time since he was twelve years old. Oh how he hated that conference. He wished he had never gotten involved with the ZPD. The ZPD had taken everything from him before, and it was doing so once again.

It was a few minutes before Nick was able to collect himself. Regardless of his feelings at the moment it was no longer safe to be alone and on the streets at night. He had to find somewhere to stay, but where?

Thinking hard he went through his list of options. He could try to find a hotel to stay at, but any prey hotel would reject him on the basis of him being a predator that could go savage. Any predator hotel might reject him as well for being the predator that ruined everything. Besides, in this area there were no predator only hotels.

 _I know everybody_. He mentally recalled bragging to the rabbit cop. Of course! He didn't have to stay at a hotel. He hadn't hustled everyone he knew; in fact, he was in good relations with quite a few mammals. Nick quickly opened up his phone and navigated to his contacts list. As he scrolled through the list from A to C mentally checking off whether he was currently friendly with the mammals he thought of another problem. Just like the hotels, he would be willing to bet that any prey animals he knew would now be wary of him. Any predators who could put two and two together probably blamed him for the results of the press conference as well. His only hope would be a prey animal who definitely would not fear predators, or a predator who was too dumb to connect the dots.

'Or….' That was it! His mind reeled from the realization. Quickly he scrolled to the bottom of his contact list, and at the very end, under Z was Zaffodil. Zaffodil was a zebra who helped run a predator restaurant called Zanza-bar at the edge of Tundra Town and Sahara Square. Not only was it close by, but Zaffodil had one other very special quality. She was in love with a lion. Nick knew Zaffodil and Manerd from when he'd had to work for them after trying to hustle a free meal. He'd worked hard, ashamed of being caught and quickly developed a friendship with the two kind mammals. They had understood that he'd tried to steal because he had fallen on tough times and offered him a job at their restaurant whenever he needed one. On the condition that he work for his meals instead of steal them. They would be the perfect couple to take him in for the night.

With a plan of action ready, Nick sighed a deep sigh, wiped the tears off his snout, pummelled the wall once with a closed fist to shake off his anger at the ZPD and collected his suitcase. The Zanza-bar was located slightly within Tundra Town and a few miles North-East of where Nick was currently located. It would be an hour long walk to get there, and he didn't want to be out any later than he already was.

As he walked Nick allowed himself to fantasize about taking down the ZPD. Most of them were petty revenge fantasies, like getting an underground pyro-rat to burn the building down. Nick didn't care, the fantasies soothed his soul and allowed him to calm down after the brutality he had witnessed. He realised however, that if he truly wanted to make the place safe for predators, he would have to take down the whole structure, expose the violence, create public outcry, provoke rallies and riots, the works. The only problem with that being that predators made up only ten percent of the population, and the other ninety percent didn't give a rat's ass about them right now. They didn't have a big enough voice. Maybe a mass exodus of predators would work? There were plenty of skilled predators and predators used for manual labour. If they all left Zootopia at once, surely the city would feel the loss? Or maybe the predators would suffer the most for it? Nick didn't know.

The aggravated fox's musings comforted him all the way to the front door of the Zanza-bar restaurant. Looking up he noticed the wonderfully jovial sign in front of the restaurant. It consisted of a stylized image of a lion, a zebra, and some traditional Saharan meals, all surrounding the name done up in bright letters.

The sign itself was lit from the lantern the couple always kept just above their doorway. A beacon in the night to provide hope to the cold and weary travellers looking for a meal. Truthfully, the couple had hoped to open a shop in Sahara Square, but they couldn't afford the rent there. They'd opened in Tundra Town because the cold weather and absence of many arctic prey mammals had made this area almost as much a slum as Happy Town, and so rent was cheaper here.

Nick sighed, yet another example of speciesism and prejudice causing strife and struggle for those he cared about. Slowly he raised his paw to knock on the oak wood door that served as the gateway to the warmth and comfort within. He knocked once to the tune of an old Saharan folk song, one he knew Zaffodil loved. After nearly a minute of Nick shivering in the cold the oaken barricade started to shift open to reveal the beautiful brown eyes of Zaffodil. Her stripes formed around her eyes like the best applied eye-liner and drew your attention right into them.

"Nick!" She cooed as she threw the door open. "It has been so long! I was worried we would not be seeing you at all anymore! Come in! Come in! It is too cold to stay outside!" One hoof extended out wrapping itself around Nick's frame and pulling him inside.

"Warm yourself up for just a moment, I will get Manerd. He will be so glad to see you again!" hurried Zaffodil as she rushed off to find her lion.

Nick sauntered over to the large fireplace located in the middle of the restaurant. When you serve mammals from a cold location like this, you needed to provide warmth. Thus Zaffodil and Manerd had built a beautiful and large square stone fireplace that was open on all four sides to provide heat to the restaurant. Of course, mammals more comfortable with the cold could pick a table closer to the outside walls which allowed them to remain cool while they dined.

The rest of the restaurant consisted of oaken dining tables of various sizes with smaller ones near the front and off to the side and the larger tables located at the back. Surrounding each table was an open backed and semi-circular booth allowing for tails to be tucked away comfortably. The booths all had hatch tops where numerous cushions were stored to act as boosters to any smaller mammals sitting with their larger friends, or just to provide comfort as needed.

The decorations of the restaurant were Saharan in nature, yet they also consisted of quite a lot of pictures of the Tundra landscape. Nick knew a lot of thought and love went into designing the interior of the restaurant. Knew because he'd made some of the suggestions himself. He was pleased that the renovations had gone smoothly and that the restaurant looked both inviting and cozy.

"Nicky boy!" Came the loud roar as Manerd the lion descended upon the poor fox. Nick couldn't keep the smile off of his face as he saw the lovable lion. It was Manerd's personality Nick based his jovial and pleasant personas off of.

"Welcome! Welcome, it's so good to see you again! You look well!" exclaimed the lion as he held Nick back to examine him.

"You too Manerd, I couldn't be happier to see you both." Came Nick's reply, smile still plastered on his face.

"So. How long?" Asked Manerd, crossing his arms over his sizable chest.

Nick sputtered, a look of shock briefly flitting across his face. "W-w-what?"

Zaffodil let out a soft and gentle laugh. "Nick, you only visit us when you need something. Usually to work off a debt. So how long do you need to work for?"

Appropriately chastised Nick tried to come up with an excuse for his lack of visits and could find none. He truly had just used the couple whenever he needed aid. His ears fell slightly and his smile faded away.

"I'm sorry guys, I should have visited more often. I…have you seen the news?"

Both Zaffodil and Manerd's ears flattened instantly, the happiness disappearing faster than a frightened rabbit down a rabbit hole.

"Yes… Nick I'm sorry, does this mean you need a place to stay?" Came Manerd's voice, significantly quieter and more serious than it had been just a moment earlier.

"I do. At least until the cause of the savage mammals is discovered. I can work for my room and board though. It will be like old times."

Those words brought a little happiness back to the pred-prey couple as they remembered the times spent joking around with and sassing the fox as he worked for them.

"Sure thing Nick, as long as we have customers and as long as you need a place to stay, we're here for you." Said Zaffodil. "You must be tired, let me set you up with a bed." As she finished her sentence the zebra led the fox to the back of the restaurant and towards a wooden door opposite the kitchen that concealed a flight of stairs up to the bedrooms. As they left, Manerd called out.

"Sleep well fox, you're going to have a busy day tomorrow!" Teasing the fox one last time before he headed off to bed.

And so Nick would spend the next week with the couple, working hard, sleeping well, and earning his keep while staying hidden from the hostile eyes of predators and prey alike.

* * *

Judy felt she'd had enough. She had taken case after case trying to repair relations between predators and prey. She had visited the Ottertons five times, offering comfort and support to Mrs. Otterton. She had attended Gazelle's peace rally and tried to prevent violence from erupting between predators and prey. She had patrolled the dark alleys of Zootopia to prevent the violent muggings of predators that were happening more and more of late. She had even been sent on a dozen missions to tranquilize and capture savage predators. Nothing was improving.

Over the last two weeks she had been trying her all to repair the damage she'd done at the press conference and it was not working. To make matters worse she hadn't seen ear nor tail of her once friendly fox. She was riddled with guilt over what might have happened to him, and she knew that whatever it was, it was her fault.

So it was with a determination to set things right that she found herself in front of Chief Bogo's office door. Ready to argue her case for why Nick was a missing mammal and needed to be found, she knocked on the door.

"Come in." Came the standard greeting.

Judy opened the door and walked in. As soon as she caught sight of the buffalo her determination started to wilt. He was rubbing his head and squinting his eyes, the signs of another one of his massive migraines. _No._ She steeled herself, she had to do this. _For Nick_.

So with renewed determination she hopped up onto the large chair in front of the chief's massive desk. She sat down, politely waiting for her superior to initiate the conversation.

"Officer Hopps. To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked, grimacing the entire time.

Judy took a deep breath and stood up, ears standing at attention in preparation for the battle with the buffalo that she was anticipating.

"I would like to be assigned to a missing mammal case, sir!" She announced, hoping that by keeping it vague she could get his approval without a fight. Her hopes were in vain however.

"Really? Which mammal?" Asked the buffalo, leaning back and rubbing his horns again.

Judy gulped. _Damn_.

"One Nicholas Piberius Wilde, sir." She continued hoping against hope that the chief had forgotten the name of her foxy friend.

"The fox? I have no reports of him missing." Winced out the buffalo. This must have been one of his more serious migraines.

Judy sat there, at a loss for what to do. She couldn't be assigned to a case if there was no case, and without any reports of a missing mammal, she had no case.

"I would like to report him as missing then sir." She continued ears starting to droop as she realized she was losing this fight before the battle had even begun.

The chief sighed and slowly leaned in towards the rabbit officer. "Officer Hopps, I need you to put aside your personal feelings for a moment. To assign you to a case, we need a missing mammal. To have a missing mammal we need a report. To have a report we need a close friend or relative to file such a report. Finally, even if he was missing, why should I dedicate department resources to finding a fox when we have many other pressing matters to deal with?"

Judy's ears fell straight down to her back as she thought it over. She knew the procedures around missing mammal cases, and she knew the department was tight on resources due to the outbreak of savage predators but… Her nose started twitching, and suddenly the bunny's ears shot straight up again as she leaned closer to the buffalo.

"Sir, I believe he has important information regarding the outbreak of savage mammals that is integral to solving the case. This would make him a police informant, and as such he is entitled to police protection. Even if he is not missing, we should bring him in for protection as an informant on the case."

As Judy blurted out her genius idea she thought she could see the police chief start to smile. The facial expression was quickly replaced by another grimace however. Once the buffalo's face returned to normal he eyed the bunny for a moment.

"Well then what are you waiting for? Get me that fox officer Hopps!" Chief Bogo said, hopefully loud enough for at least one member of the department to overhear.

The chief kept his face straight while the little rabbit scurried off the chair and ran out of the room, returning a few moments later to sheepishly close his door. Once she was gone, chief Bogo allowed a smile to creep on his face. He was proud of that bunny. Proud of her ingenuity to get her own way, and proud of her loyalty to the fox. Some among his officers were allowing their speciesism to show and were carrying out their duties a little too violently. Those he would deal with later. For now, he was proud that he still had a few mammals genuinely willing to help anybody who needed it.

* * *

Officer Judy Hopps was ecstatic! She could now devote all of her time to finding her friend and making amends for what she did. Finding the fox was now a department approved case, and so now she had all of the department's resources available to do so. Her first plan of action was to pull up any and all records the ZPD had on the fox.

After having practically run to her cubicle she turned on her computer and started scanning department records for anything on Nicholas Piberius Wilde. She had been expecting to find family documents, place of residence, hospital visits, maybe a few small crimes from when he would have been caught hustling, all things to tell her where to begin her search.

What she found instead surprised her to no end. Nick had been arrested on multiple occasions, but the charges had always been dropped in light of evidence proving his innocence. He had a few hospital visits, sometimes with life threatening injuries, but there was no consistent hospital he visited. He'd been to each hospital in all of Zootopia at least once! They didn't even have any documentation on where he lived, no ownership of a home, nor claimed rent.

The logical place to look then, would be with family members. Judy opened all of the documents pertaining to his family. Starting with Nick's father, Judy found that one John Piberius Wilde had been arrested on a charge of burglary when Nick was eight years old. The trial was delayed for four years as the claimant had disappeared and could not be found. During those four years John had caught pneumonia while in police custody and had perished after suffering of pneumonia for three weeks in a cell with no medical aid being administered.

Judy's eyes started to water as she imagined the pain and suffering of being in a cold cell with pneumonia and dying of it, nobody ever coming to her aid. But why didn't anyone help the fox? Surely they would have noticed the symptoms, surely he would have complained. _…the world's only ever going to see a fox as shifty and untrustworthy…_ she remembered Nick saying. The officers probably didn't believe John until he had died.

Judy had to sit there and collect herself before continuing. No wonder Nick was so condescending towards the ZPD. No wonder he had such a pessimistic view on life. The prejudice of officers in the ZPD killed his father when he was only twelve years old!

Wiping away her tears, Judy continued. Sad as it was, she wasn't going to find Nick by dwelling on the pain of the past. She located documents on Nick's mother. Martha Brown Wilde: deceased. Suicide.

Heart reeling from what she was reading Judy continued on to find out that Martha Wilde had tried to support Nick without his father. However, she had been unable to find gainful employment and their house had been put under foreclosure during the four-year custody of John Wilde. Finally, after hearing of her husband's death she had attempted to poison the young Nicholas Wilde with an overdose of pain medications and killed herself with a much greater dosage. Nicholas Wilde had been homeless and an orphan since he was twelve years old.

"Oh Nick." she sobbed, unable to stop the stream of tears from running down her face. Judy's heart was breaking from what she was learning about her fox friend and the sheer amount of suffering he'd been through. Judy also knew, that what she was seeing was only the tip of the iceberg if the hospital reports were an indication, and that made her weep all the harder.

One hour, two cups of coffee, five check-ins from other ZPD officers and a carrot-cake donut accompanied by ten minutes of comfort from Clawhauser saw Judy finally regain her composure. She had to be strong. For Nick. Judy resolved to visit every hospital in Zootopia to see if they had any information on Nick Wilde, and failing that she was going to visit his old home in Happy Town to see if she could spot anything. The whole endeavor would likely take a week.

Judy signed off of her computer, asked Clawhauser to sign her out and went home to try and recuperate. It was going to be a long week.

* * *

Nick Wilde startled awake. Looking to his phone he found that it was four o'clock in the morning. Still night time. Something was not right however, his bed was too warm. Looking around he noticed the downy comforter was on the ground and bunched up against the wall beside the bed. With nothing else in the room besides his suitcase and the door he didn't understand why he woke up. He looked out the large window to his right and saw that it was peaceful outside, with warm light flickering violently on the snow around the restaurant. 'Violently?' he pondered. Then the room went from uncomfortably warm to unbearably hot.

Pocketing his phone, Nick reached for his suitcase to fish out some cooler clothes to wear when Manerd came barreling through the door with a terrified expression on his face. The lion grabbed Nick out of his bed and turning a sharp ninety degrees leapt out of the window with Nick in hand. Nick had just managed to close his fingers around the suitcase before he found himself in a large pile of snow outside of a blazing restaurant.

The entire Zanza-bar restaurant was being devoured ferociously by flames. As Nick stared in shock, a small explosion blew out the last intact window in the restaurant area, blue flames licking the exit, hungry for more oxygen. Frantically looking around, Nick saw that Zaffodil had made it out and was recovering from a zebra shaped hole in a nearby snowbank. Manerd seemed dazed (partly because Nick had landed on him), but otherwise uninjured. Finally, looking to the front of the restaurant, Nick spotted a sign. Using his night vision and the light from the fire he saw that it was the restaurant's front door sign, with a message spray-painted across the front.

"Fucking Prey Sympathizer".


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**

First of all I want to thank all the people who've reviewed my story so far. Particularly f3arsentinal who has reviewed every chapter so far. Thanks buddy!

Secondly I would like to apologize to all the Judy fans out there. I haven't been giving her enough page time. That all changes in the next few chapters however.

Thirdly this chapter is a little more lighthearted than the last two. I needed a break from all the darkness. Be still my broken heart!

Fourthly, I must apologize in advance, I didn't have the time to review this chapter so it may have more typos and spelling mistakes than usual. If you are bothered by any please leave a review detailing where and I promise I will fix it.

Fifthly, All copyrights belong to their respective owners, mostly Disney. Gussik, Manerd, Zaffodil, Dr. Skinz and the receptionist are mine however. You can't have them!

Finally, for those of you who haven't figured it out. The chapter titles are the lyrics from the songs "Crawling in the Dark" by Hoobastank and "Your Betrayal" by Bullet for my Valentine. Each lyric sets the general tone for the experiences to be faced by Judy and Nick in the respective chapter.

Whew that was long. Sorry! Back to the story.

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts**

 **(J)Looking for the answer / (N)My body's shaking, there's no turning back**

Nick stared at his friends as they watched their life's work breathe its last breath as it crumbled and died. Devoured from within by the ravenous jaws of the unnatural fire. To Nick, it was as if the fire was the hate of Zootopians incarnate returned to punish those who would dare to aid a fox.

The pred-prey couple watched mutely, tears streaming down their face as their home and business for the last ten years turned to ash in front of their eyes. They knew it wasn't much, that it was a humble living, but it was theirs. Now it was simply gone. Nick stood slowly, coming to the realization that it wasn't safe for any mammal to help him now. If he didn't want to harm the friends he had left, he would have to survive on his own. No hustling, no shelter, no friends. Just Nick and the wilderness. He would have to leave Zootopia.

Nick slowly walked up to his suitcase, tears forming in his eyes in sympathy for the couple who had sheltered and cared for him. Opening his grimy and now soaking suitcase he located the secret pocket near the handle. His paws were shaking too hard to withdraw the contents of the pocket one by one, so he simply extended a claw and slashed open the pocket which contained all of his money. After all, he had no use for it now. If any mammal who helped him would face injury such as this or worse, it would be better that none help him at all.

Pocketing the entirety of his life's savings Nick closed his suitcase and walked over to the stricken couple. Without a word Nick allowed the tears in his eyes to flow freely as he met their tear-soaked and reddened eyes. _Strange_. He thought. _In the shared experiences of pain and grief, the eyes of predator and prey alike are the same._ Without a word he dropped his entire life savings into Manerd's lap. Nick knew it wasn't enough to rebuild the restaurant, but hopefully it would be enough to allow them to start again. Trying to control his voice, Nick said "I'm so sorry, it's not safe for me to be around you any more. Thank you. For everything." And turned away.

From Tundra Town, the nearest Zootopia border was to the north. Normally the fox would have preferred a different border as Tundra Town's climate was too cold for his taste. However, at this moment he felt that he needed the cold's numbing properties to freeze his aching heart. Furthermore, he reasoned that even Tundra Town was climate controlled, so once he left the Zootopian borders the climate would be warmer and more tolerable to the fox.

Sighing, and with his back to the warmth of the embers that was once a welcoming symbol of home, his front facing the frigid temperatures of Tundra Town in the early morning, the fox headed north.

* * *

Judy awoke with a start. It was still half an hour before her alarm was set to go off but she knew she could not return to sleep. She would never wish to return to that nightmare again. In her dream she and Nick were still being chased by the savage panther they had found in the Rainforest District. Only this time, there was more than one savage mammal. There was practically a small army of savage predators and prey alike. They weren't normal mammals either, they were flaming creatures howling in pain and rage and hate. Their forms were constantly shifting from the shape of one mammal to the other, the one constant was their sharp fangs and the hate in their eyes. She had awoken just as they Nick had been caught and descended upon by the fiery beings.

 _It was just a dream_. She kept telling herself over and over as she shakily performed her morning routine. However, she'd still had to brace herself before leaving her small apartment, fearing what lay beyond her door. _Nothing_. It was safe. _Of course it's safe._ She chided herself. Nevertheless, Judy Hopps was still shaken when she decided to stop by a small café on her way to work. Hopefully a slice of carrot cake and a bottle of carrot juice would calm her nerves.

As Judy walked into the ZPD station she put on her best smile. The carrot cake and juice had relaxed her and with the sunrise she was feeling significantly better about the day. Today was going to be the day, she was going to find Nick. As she walked past the reception desk on the way to her office she greeted the friendly and newly stationed antelope working the desk.

"Oh Judy, Clawhauser was looking for you. He's down in records if you want to stop by." Greeted the antelope in a cheery voice.

Confused, Judy's ears perked a bit. "What's he doing in records?" She asked the new receptionist.

"Oh." The antelope's face fell. "I'm sorry Judy, I thought you knew. The ZPD decided that it was better not to have a predator as the greeting mammal for the ZPD. Clawhauser has been stationed in records for the foreseeable future." The antelope felt bad about this. While she had dreamed of this position for a long time, a large part of that dream was inspired by Clawhauser. She had idolized and enjoyed her meetings with the friendly and chubby cheetah. To be given his job at his expense just felt wrong.

"Really?" asked Judy her nose twitching. Everyone she knew liked Clawhauser, she didn't understand why he would be moved.

"Yeah, mayor's orders. I'm sorry." Clarified the now saddened antelope. "If you're going to see him, can you give him these donuts? Perks of being the receptionist, but I think he would enjoy them more than me right now."

"Sure, I'll go see him right now." Said Judy as the antelope reached over the desk and dropped a rather large box of donuts into the waiting rabbit's outstretched arms. Clawhauser had really helped her out yesterday, so the least she could do was console him in his time of need.

Judy took the box of donuts and proceeded to the back of the precinct towards the stair that led into the basement. The entire building had to be well lit, but once she passed through those doors it felt like she'd entered an entirely different building. The lights went from warm and comforting to cold and sterile, flickering every once in a while. The walls were no longer finished or decorated and instead presented the rough face of unfinished concrete. The hallway, despite being well lit, felt empty and foreboding.

Not that Judy let that stop her. Trying to keep a bounce in her step, and a smile plastered on her face, she hopped down the basement hall towards the records room. Opening the large sheet metal and pressed wood door. She slipped in, found the desk Clawhauser was sitting at, jumped up and dropped the box of donuts in front of him.

"Hey Clawhauser! Thanks for yesterday, I really needed that." Judy smiled as she waved at him.

"Oh Judy you shouldn't have!" exclaimed the cheetah, ears perking and a smile coming to his face.

"Oh! The donuts aren't from me. They're from the new receptionist. When did they move you?" asked Judy own ears starting to droop in sympathy for the obviously saddened cheetah.

"Just last night. It's not so bad, I can still operate the radios, and some of the officers have come by to visit me already." Clawhauser answered, putting on a brave face. "But these donuts will make it a lot better! Thanks Judy!"

"Any time Clawhauser. Look I'm sorry I can't stay and chat. I would love to, but I have a very important case I am working on right now and I need to get started." Judy apologised as she turned around to leave, eager to start searching for her fox.

The cheetah, for his part grinned at her while resting his chubby chin in his paw. "Off to find that cute fox of yours?" He asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Judy nearly tripped over her own feet. One ear twitching back to Clawhauser she turned around. "How? How did you know about that?" she whispered. Not that it was supposed to be a secret or anything. But for some reason Judy felt as if it would be better if it had been kept a secret.

"Oh honey! The chief wasn't exactly quiet when he gave you those orders. Besides, when I was with you yesterday I looked over some of the files while you were calming down. Poor thing has had a tough life hasn't he?" A note of sympathy creeping into the cheetah's voice.

"That he has, not that you could guess by looking at him." She certainly hadn't.

"Well, you'd best hurry up and find him. Good luck sweetie! Hopefully you can bring some comfort to him." Chirped the cheetah, images of how cute a couple the fox and the rabbit were before the convention playing through his head.

Judy turned and left the office, quietly muttering as she left. "Yeah, hopefully I can." As she mentally searched for ways to apologize and bring back the small comfort of friendship to the fox's life.

Judy left the bare basement and headed to her cubicle, determination filling her step and her ears perked with purpose. She was going to figure out which hospitals to visit and find her fox, even if it took all week.

Once Judy had sat down and turned on her computer, she noticed that officer Fangmeyer had been watching her and was now approaching her. The Bengal tiger was both feminine and handsome in her ZPD uniform, a stylized choker threw off the look however as it added a rebellious tinge to the outfit. Judy thought it looked rather unprofessional.

"Hey Officer Hopps, I've got something for ya." Whispered the tiger, looking around to see if any of the other officers took note.

Intrigued Judy's ears perked up and she turned to give the tiger her full attention. "What is it?" she asked, lowering her voice to match the tiger's.

The tiger handed Judy a map with arrows, lines, time stamps, and circled numbers drawn over it. "It's a map of the hospitals in Zootopia and the quickest route to visit all of them, accounting for traffic, visiting hours, and distance from the precinct. This way it should only take you three days." Whispered back the tiger a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Wha – why?" Judy asked, completely confused. This was of course, exactly what she needed right now, but how did Fangmeyer know?

"Clawhauser and I drew it up after you left yesterday. When I'd asked him why you were crying he told me everything. Let's just say I owe that fox a favor or two." Fangmeyer winked at Judy and got up to leave with a contented smile on her face.

"Thank you so much officer Fangmeyer!" Judy exclaimed, jumping to give the terrific tiger a hug. When she did however, she noticed that just behind the officer's shirt collar, there was a large metallic bulge attached to the choker. Curious she asked. "What's up with that choker? I've never seen you wear it before."

The grin on the tiger's face vanished, replaced with an impassive look. Once again looking around the office she bent down close to Judy's perked ears.

"The predators at the ZPD are meant to test a new collar. The mayor felt that citizens would be worried about large predators with police authority going savage. So she ordered these developed for us. The idea is that if we do go savage, the collar will use electric shocks to lock up our muscles and prevent us from attacking anyone until another officer can tranquilize us. These collars are prototypes, but I've heard rumors of mass production starting soon." Whispered the tiger, a slight snarl entering her voice.

Judy's ears dropped in sympathy. To have the constant threat of electrocution, the fear of going savage and harming those you were trying to protect. She could only imagine how this was affecting her predatory co-workers.

"Fangmeyer I'm so sorry." Judy started, ready to give her co-worker her full sympathy.

"Save it Hopps." Commanded the Bengal tiger. Perhaps a little too forcefully. "I'll live" she continued, a grin forcing its way onto her face. To Judy, that grin looked more like a grimace.

Judy was not going to insult the bravery of her fellow officer. So she decided to respect the tiger's decision to remain stoic about the whole situation. Swallowing she picked up the map and some family files on Nick and hopped out of her chair. "Thanks for the map. I'd better get started right away!" She said in a forcefully cheery, waving goodbye to the tiger as she left the office.

* * *

Nick was a vegetarian. At least, he thought that he respected the non-mammalian animals too much to consume them for food. One day they might too evolve, and how would they react knowing that other sentient animals used to consume them? After three days of finding almost no fruits, legumes, or root vegetables in the coniferous forests north of Zootopia his stomach started to take precedent over his mind. At the end of the third day with no food he decided he had to hunt for meat. Unfortunately for Nick, the only non-sentient animals to be found in the forest were fish from the streams and the local birds. Nick would be unable to capture either animal using his body alone.

So Nick devised a trap. Recalling the Chinese finger trap a giant panda had taught him how to make in his youth, Nick had shorn one of his Pawaiian shirts into strips in order to craft it into multiple bird-sized traps. Once the traps were complete, he secured one end to the ground using heavy rocks, or by nailing twigs through it and into the ground at an angle. Nick would then drop some seeds into the center of the trap so that the bird would have to stick its head into the trap to get at the seed, only to find itself stuck when it tried to pull its head out.

Fighting through the intense pangs of hunger Nick set up his last trap. Preparations complete, and with nothing to do until the one of the traps caught something, Nick decided it was best to sleep away the time. With tears in his eyes caused by both the ravenous hunger pangs and realization of what he had to do to survive, he crawled into the base of one of the coniferous trees and fell asleep.

* * *

 _Hungry. Eat. Must Eat. Food. Berries? No. Hungry. Bird! Meat! Trapped? Yes, trapped! Food!_ Nick opened his jaws and bit down hard on the bird, severing its head from the rest of its body. Not stopping to think, he chewed quickly and swallowed the morsel. Nick couldn't afford to think. Not with what he was currently doing.

 _Hungry. Still. Starving. Must eat. Wait. Remember._ _Remember?_ Thought Nick, his first conscious thought of the day. _Remember. Bait. Food. Food for food._ Nick shook his head. This was important. He had to remember something. Had to bring his consciousness to attention. With a mighty mental effort, he ignored his body's basic thoughts and instincts, bringing the thinking mammal back to life as he temporarily ignored his body's instinctual needs. _That was it!_ Nick remembered, _I have to bait the traps!_ Without bait they would not work and he would starve to death on the meager findings of berries and fruit that he'd had.

Looking around Nick noticed a few pine cones scattered about the forest floor. Gathering a few up he extended his claws to better rip the seeds out from the jagged scales of the cone. This action however brought back flashes of what he'd done in the madness of his starvation. Nick had killed another animal. Eaten it. Uncooked. Like a savage.

Feeling like he was about to throw up he forced those memories and thoughts down. He couldn't afford to waste food. He had to focus on the task of re-baiting his traps. Only when that was done could he retreat into the cruel mercy of his madness, allowing only his instincts and impulses to control his actions.

His traps set again he allowed his body to take over again and let his consciousness slip back into blessed darkness. The hungry fox continued on. Determined to hunt and sate its seemingly unending hunger. As it bounded off following its nose to a nearby hill that held a small blueberry patch a few tears leaked from its eyes.

* * *

Judy was waiting outside the hospital. She had visited every hospital in Zootopia and she was currently at the last one.

So far none of the hospitals had been any help. While they all knew the name Nick Wilde, none of them knew of any known place of residence or next of kin. On the few forms where Nick had to provide an emergency contact he had listed Finnick and left the phone number section either blank or filled with a generic number.

There had also been no pattern in his injuries which might have suggested a preferred location. Continuous frost bite might have suggested Tundra Town, heat exhaustion and burns would have suggested Sahara Square or Savana Central, rashes from poisonous plants and colds would have suggested the Rainforest District, and physical injury from altercations might have arisen from hustles in the Downtown area.

Looking down at her notepad while she waited for the receptionist at the Little Rodentia Clinic to find a doctor, she sighed as her chart showed that Nick had an almost equal number of reasons for visiting the hospitals for each instance above. The only injury that stood out to her was the far greater number of injuries from physical altercations with other mammals. Most of them were minor however and Judy chalked them up to being the result of a hustle gone bad, or perhaps even part of a hustle themselves.

Judy sighed to herself as she looked for a place to sit down outside of the candy-colored and rodent sized hospital. She was far too large to enter the hospital herself and so had been asked to wait until the receptionist could bring a doctor out to see her. Come to think of it, Judy had no idea how the hospital would have treated Nick, or why he would have chosen to visit a hospital for small rodents instead of one that could better accommodate a medium-sized mammal.

Looking around she found that there was no place for her to sit, Havarti cheese, there was barely enough room for the little lapin to place her long feet. The entire street corner of Molehill Road and Rescuer Street was taken up by the rodent hospital. Parking was found in the rear and along the two streets themselves and a speckling of rodent cars turned those areas into a dangerous minefield for the rabbit officer. Little Rodentia was simply too small a place to accommodate for any mammal that was well, not a little rodent.

As Judy was shifting her weight from one hip to the other for what felt like the fifteenth time the receptionist and a mole-rat in a doctor's uniform exited a door on the roof of the hospital.

"Good afternoon officer Hopps. My name is Doctor Skinz. To what do I owe the pleasure of speaking to one of ZPD's finest?" asked the mole-rat in what would have been considered a deep voice for a rodent.

Judy's ears swivelled towards the doctor and she rested her paws against the edge of the roof as she leaned slightly against the building in order to get as close as she could to the doctor. She wanted to make sure that she heard every word he said and the street noises below were an unwelcome distraction.

"Hi. Doctor Skinz is it?" She asked, lowering the volume of her voice while trying to maintain a pleasant pitch. She had seen that using her superior size to attempt to intimidate rodents did not lead to the desired results when she had questioned Mr. Big for the savage case and she had no intention of repeating that mistake. "I am currently investigating a missing mammal, one Nicholas Piberius Wilde. We have records of you attending to him at this hospital and I was wondering if you could give me more information."

"The fox? Sure, I'll be happy to assist in any way I can, what would you like to know?" replied the mole-rat in a surprisingly helpful tone. Judy was surprised. Most of the mammals at the other hospitals had seemed professional, but borderline hostile towards the fox. Some claiming that the injuries were his own fault, or probably the result of some crime or another. To see a small rodent who genuinely wanted to help locate the fox was an eye-opener for the increasingly less optimistic bunny.

"For starters you can tell me the reason for his visit, as well as why you didn't charge him anything for the fifteen stitches to his hand."

The doctor smiled at a memory in a way that made the bunny's curiosity explode. After the last two and a half weeks she would never have thought that a rodent, the natural prey of a fox would recall the red-furred foxy hustler fondly. But this doctor, and the receptionist beside him appeared to be doing just that.

"Yes, that was a crazy day." Said the mole-rat, thinking about where to begin. "Let me start by telling you that he did not come to us alone on that day. When he arrived, he held within his paws no less than five injured rodents. I think there were two guinea pigs, one gerbil, and two mice. We were originally afraid that he had been the one to injure them, but after he gently held his paws to the ground until we could safely place the rodents onto stretchers and care to them he just sat around waiting. Letting his hands bleed all over our front steps, not saying a word until we had confirmed that we were treating the rodents."

"Aww!" Judy's eyes widened and her ears dropped to her back as she imagined Nick standing outside of the building, gentle smirk on his face with his paws held to the ground and refusing to move until he had heard that the rodents he brought were treated. She had known since the Manchez incident that he was a kind mammal underneath his cynical exterior, but the cute image she was holding in her head made her heart wax lyrical about her fox. Until she remembered the reason for her visit to this hospital.

The doctor had paused his story to observe Judy's reaction and wait for her to return to the conversation. Slight blush appearing on her cheek as she realized that her outburst was unprofessional she tried to cover her embarrassment with a cough. "Please, go on." Judy said.

"Right." Recovered the mole-rat. "As I said, he'd refused to move until we had started treating the patients he brought us. By that time some of the construction workers he usually makes deliveries to had pulled up and started running through the hospital demanding that a doctor attends to the Nick's paws." Judy's nose twitched. Rodents actively seeking to help a fox? She didn't know what to think.

"Turns out Nick was making a delivery to the crew when one of the cranes swung wide and smashed into one of the apartment buildings nearby. While most of the nearby rodents ran around screaming, Nick apparently just sat there quietly, giving the crumbling building his whole attention." Judy could picture that. The little rodents of Zootopia tended to be easily freaked out. After all, when you were less than a tenth of the size of most animals in Zootopia, even a small crumbling building was a serious threat to one's wellbeing. She could only imagine how terrified the rodents inside of the crumbling building must have been.

"Anyways." Continued the doctor. "After a moment of staring he apparently just shot his paws forward and smashed through the windows of the building. The construction workers said they didn't know what to think until he pulled his paws out and revealed the two injured mice. He apparently repeated this another three times, each time lacerating his paws on the window glass. Must have been some of his old hunting instincts." Laughed the mole-rat doctor. "I sure am glad for those instincts now. At least two of those mammals owe him their lives."

It took Judy a little while to come out of her daydream about the heroic fox. She could just imagine him staring intently at the crumbling building before heroically snatching the rodents out and away from their impending doom.

"And why didn't you charge him after you stitched his hands up?" asked Judy, trying to remain professional. She'd intended to ask if the doctor knew where Nick could be found, but was too curious at this point to not get the full story.

At this question the receptionist shifted nervously. The movement caught Judy's attention, and noticing the rabbit's stare she spoke up. "Well, while the doctors were stitching his hands, he asked about the patients he brought in. Unfortunately, one of them needed a pretty serious anti-inflammatory medication that we had completely run out of. When I told him that he asked the doctors to hurry up and ran off as soon as they were done. I'd originally thought he was running off to skip paying the bill but…" At this point she looked down, feeling slightly ashamed of herself for her prejudice. "but he came back no less than two hours later with the anti-inflammatory and a note saying curtesy of Mr. Big." She squeaked out in a whisper so quiet Judy had to struggle to hear it.

At this point the doctor stepped forward and put his paw on the receptionist's shoulder. "What he did, was nothing short of heroic. We felt that it would be wrong to charge him for the stitches after that, and she told him so. I'll never forget his response. After signing the release forms, he said "I thought you'd say that. It's called a hustle sweetheart.""

After hearing one of the phrases she and the fox had bounced back and forth being used to justify a good deed Judy couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't a full blown laugh, nor was it just a chuckle. It was a high-pitched laugh that released all of the stress and tension she had been building up since the press conference. The sheer ridiculousness of Nick doing so much good and not being able to accept the credit with humility just seemed so much like that dumb fox.

"I'm sorry." Said Judy, wiping away a tear from her eye. "I needed that. That sounds exactly like him."

Smiling, the two small rodents on the rooftop nodded their heads, still grateful for the actions of that fox.

"Anyways, would you happen to have any knowledge on where he could be found? Place of residence? Family? Friends?"

At this the smiles of the rooftop rodents faded slightly. The receptionist stepped forward "I'm sorry, no. He didn't leave us with any information on how to contact him again. I wish we could help."

Judy sighed, she had expected this answer, it was looking like her fox was an expert at not being found.

"Thank you anyways. You both have a good day. Bye bye!" She said, forcing her voice back to its cheery self. Perhaps a little too cheery as the two rodents gave her a look before walking back into the hospital.

Once they were gone Judy allowed herself to sigh again. She mentally revisited doctor's story and let herself give a little chuckle at her heroic fox. For one so cynical and pessimistic, he didn't seem to let being a fox prevent him from doing good. He would have made an excellent officer.

Looking up Judy noticed the beautiful colors of the sunset being reflected off of the light clouds in the sky. The warm reds and yellows seeming to provide a little more warmth to her soul. She would find Nick. She knew it.

The sunset also reminded her of how late it was getting. _Cheese and crackers!_ she thought. _I've got to return the police cruiser to the station. I should have been clocked out an hour ago!_. Quickly she started to make her way to the edge of Little Rodentia where she had parked the cruiser.

It was just as Judy was passing the last few shops before reaching the fenced entrance to Little Rodentia when she heard a voice from by her foot.

"Oh my gosh! Judy? Judy!" came the high-pitched voice of an arctic shrew.

Judy looked down. "Fru Fru? Is that you?" She asked, a little shocked to see her friend out this late.

And there at her feet, just outside of a Baby-Snap store for rodents was Fru Fru, bulging belly and all.

"Hi!" The arctic shrew sing-songed while waving at her beloved bunny, a large smile on her face. "What brings you to Little Rodentia?"

"I'm working a missing mammal case on Nick, but so far nobody seems to know where I can find him. I was about to return the police cruiser and then start looking for Finnick to ask him." Responded the rabbit, relieved to be able to tell her friend of her struggles.

Judy was getting ready to unload the entire story on poor Fru Fru when she was interrupted by the amazing little arctic shrew. "Oh Nick? You won't find him at Finnick's. No, he moved out of there ages ago! Last I heard he was living in an apartment in Happy Town. Daddy used to send a limo to pick him up for their business deals. Hang on, let me call him and ask."

As Fru Fru pulled out her miniscule mouserolla and called home Judy sat there in mute shock. Of course Mr. Big would know where to find Nick, she should have thought about that sooner! Today was turning out to be a much better day than she'd ever hoped. The rodents had surprised her for the better at every turn, and she finally had a lead on her fox!

"Ok Judy, I sent you the address by text!"

*Ding* Judy pulled out her iCarrot and looked at the text message. She finally had an address. Bursting with love for the sweet shrew in front of her she leaned down and kissed her cheeks. "Thank you so much Fru Fru! This means so much to me."

"Don't worry about it. Just let me know when you find him! I'm thinking of getting a rug for the nursery." Fru Fru's eyebrows narrowed in mock anger "Not a skunk one though you hear!?" she said waving her finger.

Judy laughed along with Fru Fru for a moment. Then remembering the time as the sky darkened further she said her goodbyes and returned to the police cruiser. She wouldn't have time to visit Happy Town today, and she certainly didn't want to go at night.

As she drove back to the ZPD station she allowed herself a smile. 'I'm coming Nick.' She thought. 'And I swear I'm going to make this right!'

* * *

 **After-note**

Whew, that was a rush. A much larger chapter than usual, but I hope you all enjoyed it.

This one took a while as I had a lot of trouble debating how to show you guys Nicks burgeoning insanity instead of just telling you "he's insane guys, his hunger is making him insane". To be honest, I'm still not satisfied with how I've portrayed it, but I can't think of better.

I'm also running into a few stumbling blocks on Judy's development. For now I'm just crushing and rebuilding her optimism, but I still have to decide on how I want her to develop as a character. Any ideas and suggestions are appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5(A)

**Author's Notes:**

Sorry for the long wait guys. Real life calls, and I'm already getting assignments that are taking up my time.

I did however manage to plan out all of the major plot points for this story, so that's out of the way.

I also realized that I'm going to have to write a sickeningly sweet romance scene or something to get you guys to fall in love with Nick and Judy before I tear your hearts out once again. Turns out I suck at writing those kinds of scenes, so I'm either going to need to conscript someone else to do it, or get a lot of practice in.

As a reward for your long wait, this chapter's a long one. This is actually only half of the chapter, but I figured you guys deserved it now instead of waiting for me to finish it and then go through editing before submitting it.

So, without further ado, let's enjoy some more heartache as Judy learns more about the dark side of Zootopia.

Oh, and insert generic copyright disclaimer here. Seriously, do fanfics even need this?

As always, please leave reviews to spur me on and help me to improve my writing. All reviews welcome, especially those that locate typos or spelling/grammar mistakes.

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts**

 **(J)Is there something more / (N)Don't take your eyes off the trigger (Part 1)**

Judy arrived at the precinct over an hour before she had to be in the bull-pen for the daily assignments. Of course, she already had hers and so wasn't worried about missing her assignment. However, she did want to finish the report on her visit to the Little Rodentia hospital as quickly as possible so that she could head out to Happy Town. Her fox was waiting.

On her way past the reception desk, the antelope stationed there stopped her again.

"Hey Judy!" Greeted the antelope "You're here early."

"Sure am, I need to get an early start on my reports today" replied Judy, smiling in anticipation of being able to get one step closer to finding her fox.

"Well, if you could spare a few extra minutes, do you mind taking this box of donuts down to Clawhauser? I'd go myself but my next break isn't for another three hours."

"Of course I will. I'm certain that he will appreciate it miss…" Judy trailed off realizing she hadn't even gotten the antelope's name yet. She quickly looked around the desk for a name tag. There, by the box of donuts was the name tag for a Rachel Galope. What was more interesting to Judy, however, was the slender hoof which was currently trying to sneak a letter into the box of donuts.

"…Galope." Judy finished.

"Oh you can call me Rachel, anyways, here you go. Please give Clawhauser my regards!" the antelope articulated as she dropped the box of donuts into Judy's open arms.

Curious as to the contents of the letter yet respecting of other animal's privacy Judy headed through the door to the records rooms. Suppressing a shiver as she once again entered the forlorn corridor she quickly made it to where she had last seen the cheery cheetah.

After entering the well-lit and warmer records room Judy was easily able to spot Clawhauser despite her relatively small stature compared to the furnishings of the room. Perking up she put on a cheery smile for her feline friend.

"Hey Clawhauser! Guess what I brought?" Judy chirped at the chubby cheetah.

Clawhauser, having been gloomily slumped over the desk he was seated at perked up at hearing his friend's voice. Looking around he quickly located the two perky ears that were attached to his favorite bunny. Leaning over the desk to better see her he noticed a large box of donuts being carried in her arms. The box was so proportionately large that it actually covered the rabbit officer's entire upper body and most of her head excepting for her eyes up.

Seeing the box of assorted treats Clawhauser quickly perked up.

"Oh Judy you shouldn't have!" He said in a high-pitched voice as he reached over to take the box from her. As he set it down on his desk he tapped the top of the desk, an unspoken signal to the rabbit that she should join him on a more…visible platform.

"Oh, I didn't!" Judy said as she happily hopped on top of the desk. "It was your antelope friend at the reception desk, Rachel Galope. I think you may have an admirer!" Judy wiggled her eyebrows at the cheetah.

"mmmph mmph mmm!" was the response Judy received for her jest as the Cheetah had already managed to grab a donut and stuff it into his mouth. A look of pure pleasure lighting up his face in a comical manner.

Judy was happy that she could brighten her friend's day so easily. She truly had joined the ZPD out of a desire to make the world a better place for all of the mammals living in it. Recently though, with growing rift between predators and prey she was starting to feel like all she could do was cause suffering. Seeing Clawhauser's joy reminded her that even the small things she did could still bring joy to the mammals around her.

Having finished his mouthful of donut while Judy watched him with an amused expression on his face Clawhauser reached into the box for another donut. When his paw touched a piece of paper he pulled it out and read it. His eyes widening in shock.

"Oh Judy you weren't joking!" He squeaked out, his whole body wiggling like a big blob of happy, furry, jelly.

"Oh, oh no, oh no no no no." The cheetah suddenly mumbled, still in a high-pitched voice. He quickly pushed the donuts away as his ears fell from their excited perch and his whole body slumped in on itself.

"I can't accept these Judy!" The cheetah whispered, his face now looking absolutely miserable. "Do you know what happens to mammals in predator-prey relations? It's too dangerous!"

"Haha! I was only kidding Benji! She probably just feels guilty about taking your…" Judy floundered off seeing Clawhauser's depressed shake of his head.

"Oh no! Benjamin I'm so sorry!" Judy gasped. "Did you?" She left the question unasked.

Clawhauser just slowly nodded his head. "I did. I do! It's just too dangerous right now. For her. I mean, I might go savage at any moment, or someone might hurt her for even thinking of being with a predator like me." Mumbled the miserable mammal, still in a high-pitched voice.

Judy, finally having picked up on the pitch of her friend's voice suddenly looked at him, trying to see under the folds of his neck.

"Clawhauser, why are you talking like that?" she asked, suspicious of the answer.

"Oh, it's my tame collar." The big cat said, lifting a fold in his neck to show Judy the black choker and a part of the metal attachment. "At least, we've started calling them tame collars since they are supposed to stop us from going savage." He continued at the confused look Judy was giving him.

"Oh Benji! Not you too." Judy exclaimed, as her ears dropped down over her back in sympathy. Clawhauser was the friendliest mammal Judy knew, and the least likely to ever do anything aggressive. She couldn't see anybody being afraid of the friendly furball.

"Yeah." Sighed the chubby cheetah. "Mayor Belleweather has made it mandatory for every predator in the ZPD, no matter their station."

"But why does that make you speak in a higher pitch? Is it choking you?" Judy asked with concern for her friend.

"No, no." Clawhauser said trying to wave off Judy's concern. "It's just that mine reacts to growling and I already activated it once while whispering to Fangmeyer. It's…not something I want to do again."

Judy was confused. _The tame collars activate when the wearer growls?_ "I thought it was only supposed to shock you if you went savage?" She asked "Fangmeyer was able to whisper to me in a deep voice without getting shocked."

"Oh that's Fangmeyer since she's on duty. She has to be able to growl in order to intimidate criminals." Clawhauser waved off, one paw reaching for the box of donuts, having forgotten about his determination not to accept them.

"But Judy, we still don't even know what going savage is! I mean, it could be anything, and the symptoms are different for each animal. These collars are the mayor trying to find which is the best symptom to monitor for going savage."

"Well what symptoms are they monitoring?" Asked Judy. "I mean; how do you measure if a mammal is going savage?"

"Oh there's lots of ways. Blood pressure, serotonin levels, heart-rate, sweat, muscle tension, growling, and those are just the ones I know of! Fangmeyer's collar measures serotonin levels, and it's not very accurate."

"Isn't serotonin used to treat depression?" Asked Judy, her nose twitching in confusion as to why this might be an indicator of going savage.

"Oh it's a neurotransmitter that has been linked to mood changes. Some studies have linked low serotonin levels to depression, and some have linked high levels to aggression." Replied the cheetah in a voice that made it sound like he was reading a text-book.

"Wow, I didn't know you were so into science Clawhauser. You should have been in forensics." Judy teased.

"I'm not." Sighed Clawhauser. "Fangmeyer had it all explained to her when she got her collar, and that's just what I remember from her telling me about it. But can you imagine? If low serotonin is linked to depression, then high serotonin is probably linked to happiness! Officer Fangmeyer has to avoid being happy!"

 _Well that explains Fangmeyer's simmering stoicism_. Thought Judy. _How horrible to be shocked every time you feel happy. Wait…happy. Oh carrots! Happy Town!_ Judy's ears shot up and her eyes visibly widened as she remembered why she had come to the office early. She felt that it would be rude of her to leave her friend so soon, but she really needed to get that paperwork out of the way so that she could follow up on her lead.

"Yeah, shocking isn't it?" Clawhauser giggled a bit at his own joke, already chewing on another donut.

"Oh Clawhauser no! I'm sorry!" Judy reached out to comfort Clawhauser's forearm. "I just remembered that I have to hurry and finish my reports for yesterday. I got a really big lead on where Nick might be and I need to follow it quickly!"

Judy then turned and hopped off the desk. She quickly ran across the room to the plywood and sheet-metal door. Having jumped for the handle and opened the door she turned back to her friend, still feeling guilty about leaving him down here. "I promise I'll come back and chat tomorrow! Maybe even get another box of donuts from Ms. Galope! I gotta go bye!" Judy was out the door before she even finished her last sentence.

Racing back upstairs and out of the basement of the ZPD she quickly ran to her cubicle and logged on to her computer. She sighed as she realized how long her reports would take to complete. Her visits to the hospitals had been eye-opening and she was determined to report on everything she'd seen in the last three days.

For example, she noted at least three hospitals had "No Preds Allowed" signs and were refusing to treat predators. She would have to report them to chief Bogo as discrimination based on species was illegal under the Zootopia Discrimination Act. Of course, just because it was illegal didn't stop mammals from doing it. Especially since the Zootopia Discrimination Act only prevented government bodies and large businesses from discriminating. Judy would also have to report at least four other hospitals for poor record keeping, another two for maliciously over-charging foxes, and nine more for complaints filed by predators about hospital mistreatment.

The sheer number of reports, complaints, documented evidence, and observations she had to type up, as well as having to assist multiple other officers in small ways took Judy until five o'clock in the afternoon to finish. By this time Judy was tired and frustrated as she'd intended to be in Happy Town by now. However, the ZPD was rather understaffed today, and the paperwork needed to get done first.

As Judy finished typing up her last report she started printing off all of the documents that she would need to deliver to chief Bogo personally before clocking out for the day. The fact that her shift was almost over didn't dampen her mood too much though, since she'd already planned to visit Happy Town whether she was on duty or not. Either way, she was going to get some answers on her fox's whereabouts today.

Documents printed, computer logged off, and Judy signed out she half skipped half ran to chief Bogo's office. Knocking on the door, and hearing the familiar "Enter!" she jumped for the door handle and pulled it down, swinging her legs into the door to provide a small push to get it open. As the door started to swing open she dropped down to the ground strode in, papers still under her arm.

"Sir, I have the reports from the last three days that require your attention." Judy said as she jumped onto the overly large chair in front of the chief's desk.

As she put the papers down in front of the chief she noticed a large cardboard box filled with tame collars pushed to the edge of the desk. Wisely she decided not to comment on it.

"I also have a new lead as to the location of the fox Nicholas Piberius Wilde. I was told that he rents an apartment for medium-sized mammals just inside Happy Town." Judy reported.

"I see." Said the chief as he swept up her reports and quickly filed them away. In truth, he did not need the reports. He could look them up electronically and find them in a more legible size for an animal of his stature. However, the reports needed to be filed in paper copy just in case anything happened to the electronic data-base.

"And am I correct in assuming that you will be investigating this apartment building personally?" chief Bogo continued.

"Yes sir, first thing tomorrow morning!" Said Judy, trying to keep her ears perky.

The buffalo just stared at her blankly. Slowly she felt her ears wither as she knew her chief was calling her bluff.

"Sir, I know I am now off duty, but it can't hurt to go and investigate as soon as possible. With the current climate between predators and prey he might change his location at any moment." Judy pleaded, trying to get the buffalo to side with her on her urgency.

"No."

"Sir?"

"I forbid it officer Hopps. If I hear that you have entered Happy Town tonight, I will personally have your badge."

Judy visibly shrank. The chief hadn't used a threat that large since she first took Mrs. Otterton's case.

"Do you know what kind of place Happy Town is?" continued the buffalo.

Eager to show that she had indeed prepared for the foray the chief seemed so against, Judy perked up and answered promptly and professionally.

"Yes sir! It is a small ghetto area in the west side of Savanna Central, near Harbour Street. Population of seven hundred and twelve mammals, mostly predators. Technically it is classified as a village, sir."

"Mostly predators Hopps. Do you know why one of Zootopia's only two ghettos is populated almost entirely by predators?"

"No sir." Responded Judy, already knowing that she was not going to like the answer. "All I know is that the area was historically predator dominated and has continued to be a predator ghetto since Zootopia's founding."

"Well, time for a history lesson Hopps." The chief chuckled darkly.

"Sir do we really have time for that?" Judy questioned, eager to resume her search for her fox.

"Yes!" Practically yelled the buffalo. "I need you to understand why you, especially you Hopps, cannot enter Happy Town alone at this time."

Once again Judy found herself wilted into the oversized chair, trying to appear small after the chief's angry outburst. The chief rubbed his brow, this was going to be a long talk.

"When Zootopia was first founded, prey mammals were still terrified of predator mammals. The prey mammals settled in what is now the Downtown area and forced the predators to settle in the western side of what is now Savannah Central. Even though they declared that they would live together in peace and harmony with the predators, they refused to have any interactions with them. The prey animals, outnumbering the predators quickly took over the majority of the land and resources in Zootopia and the surrounding areas. Most prey refused to have anything to do with predators, with few willing even trade with them. Those who did trade with predators always got the better end of the deal. It quickly became apparent to the predators that the only way to survive would be to form their own community within Zootopia, a community where they looked after their own and didn't have to depend on help from the rest of Zootopia. Thus Happy Town was formed. The problem was that by this point most of Zootopia was already claimed by the prey, who refused to sell anything, particularly real-estate to the predators at a fair price. Therefore, Happy Town had to get by on very little resources, turning it into a ghetto. However, this ghetto was the only way for the predators in Zootopia to survive until fifty years ago when the Zootopia Discrimination Act was passed." The buffalo took a moment to study rabbit officer, who was looking rather crestfallen at the history lesson she was receiving. "As such, the residents of Happy Town still very much remember, and still experience the discrimination against predators exhibited by prey mammals. They will not take kindly to the one officer who's press conference caused the discrimination against them to return to what it was before the Zootopia Discrimination Act."

Judy was stunned. She had known that Happy Town had always been a predator ghetto from her history classes. She had however, always assumed that the ghetto was voluntary, that predators just preferred to be with other predators and due to their nature they hadn't managed to prosper as well as the rest of Zootopia. She was realizing now that this was exactly how her teachers wanted her to think.

Sure Bunny Burrows was similar in that almost all bunnies kept to the Burrows and didn't leave, but that was by choice. They could of course leave and seek a living anywhere else in Zootopia. This was proven by herself and a handful of other rabbits in her generation who had sought their lives in Zootopia. Furthermore, the Burrows was plentiful in resources and the farming done in Bunny Burrows alone fed almost half of Zootopia. To be forced to try and survive off of the small plot that was Happy Town with little resources and no help would have been unbearable.

Seeing the tears of sympathy start to well up in the rabbit officer's eyes chief Bogo cursed his soft heart. "Hopps, I will allow you to investigate the border of Happy Town tonight as long as you follow my conditions to the letter." He sighed, knowing he was going to regret his decision later.

Judy perked up at hearing the chief's words. She wouldn't be able to visit the apartment building tonight, but at least she could locate it and maybe even find Nick if he was wandering about.

"First. This allowance is only so that you can gather information about Happy Town before I clear you to enter the village. Second. You will not step foot inside Happy Town, you will remain in the elephant district bordering the village. Third. You will not stay out past sun down, and you will be in your cruiser, heading home before the sun sets. Fourth. You will carry your tranquilizer gun and plenty of ammo. Fifth, you will wear full protective gear. Finally, you will not enter Happy Town at any time after tonight until I clear you to do so. Do you understand?"

Judy, who was becoming more and more visibly excited as the chief listed his terms wilted a little bit upon hearing the last term. This could possibly delay her search for Nick even longer if the chief didn't clear her to enter Happy Town. _Of course_. She thought. _The Chief could just order me not to enter Happy Town before I leave tomorrow if he really wanted to prevent me from going._ Seeing that this was the best chance she'd get to further the investigation right away. Judy readily accepted the terms.

"Thank you sir." Judy said as she stood up in the over-sized chair. "I will get suited up right away!"

Before she could jump off of the chair the chief cleared his throat. Turning back to look at the chief she saw him gesture towards the box of chokers. "Officer Hopps, do you know what these are?" intoned the chief.

Judy knew from his tone that the question was a loaded one. So she chose her answer carefully.

"Tame collars sir, used to…." Judy gulped, remembering the looks on the faces of Fangmeyer and Clawhauser when talking about them. "incapacitate predatory mammals in the ZPD should they go savage."

The buffalo let out a dark chuckle. "So they're calling them 'tame collars' now huh? No Hopps, these are the beginning of the end of Zootopia."

Judy was frozen. She knew that the collars were bad, a horrible contraption that caused pain and malfunctioned easily, but she had thought that they were a necessary evil, at least until the savage case was solved.

Seeing the rabbit's confused look the chief elaborated. "I just had over half of my predatory staff resign today Hopps, these are the collars they were wearing. They said that they'd rather resign than wear these abominations and be a tool for mayor Belleweather to use to convince all predators to wear them. We are well on our way to a civil war between predators and prey, and this time, the predators will be fighting back. We need that fox Hopps. We need to solve this case before we get to that point."

Chief Bogo sighed again, rubbing at his temples. Saying it aloud brought the severity of what he was facing to his full attention. Even though he could get fired for what he was about to do. He knew Zootopia needed him to do it.

"Which is why, even though I am now severely understaffed and the ZPD is unable to function properly during the night shift, I will go with you. Tomorrow. To Happy Town so that we can find that fox."

Judy couldn't believe it. The chief himself was going to help her to find Nick! Together they would go to Happy Town, and find her fox. She could then apologize to her friend for how she had hurt him, apologize for the press conference and together they could hopefully solve the savage case before things got out of hand. Nick had shown her that he was a smart fox, while she probably wasn't smart enough to solve the case, together they had found the missing mammals and together they would find out why mammals were going savage in the first place. She could finally start to mend the damage her ignorance and prejudice had caused. She could finally start to make the world a better place.

Remembering where she was, Judy quickly snapped a smart salute and jumped off of the jumbo-sized chair to suit up for her reconnaissance.

"Thank you chief." She said quietly as she closed the door to his office.

* * *

The fox was having a bad night. The sun hadn't even set yet and he had woken up from hunger pangs. Giving the air a quick sniff, the fox noted that there were no scents of food around the area. It would have to explore new territory to find food. Thus, it headed off in a direction that did not yet have his scent in order to find food.

A half hour later the fox caught a whiff of a scent that was familiar to it. Not that the fox recognized the scent, it only had a vague memory of the smell being associated with food. Following it's nose the fox searched for the origin of the scent, finally coming to the base of some leafy plant. _The scent was coming from the ground_? The fox started to dig with its paws, knowing that he would eventually find the source of the smell.

Not too long after it started digging the fox found a few bugs to munch on while it kept digging. The bugs themselves weren't filling, but had a memory of the scent it was following as being quite filling.

Finally, it found the source of the smell. A short, bulbous root covered in dirt. Giving in to its hunger pangs the fox quickly pulled up the root and snapped it up with its jaws, chewing heartily before swallowing and moving on to find its next source of food.

Not ten minutes later the fox found itself in great discomfort as it tried to heave up odd root it had eaten. _Idiot, you needed to cook and clean it first_. The fox immediately stood at attention, ears perked for noise it had just heard. _Not a noise, a thought_. The fox was confused by this sound that was not a sound, but decided to ignore it. Finally finished regurgitating and spitting out the odd root, as well as the rest of the contents of its stomach, the fox decided to nose the remnants of its meal to see if anything was still salvageable. _Ugh, gross! No. Leave it!_ Deciding to obey the sound that was not a sound the fox walked away from the mess on the ground. Nose in the air, it smelled a few new scents. _Look, we're right by a farm, head toward it and we'll find some berries to eat._ Moving forward the fox did as it was compelled to do, after a while it found fresh bunch of blueberry bushes which it proceeded to immediately felt better. Perhaps it should obey it more often.

* * *

Judy found herself at the edge of Happy Town and the Elephant district trying desperately to peer into the little village. The moniker "Happy Town" truly didn't fit the little ghetto. Everywhere she looked she saw signs of poverty. Broken windows, run down buildings, dirt roads, graffiti, homeless mammals wrapped up in rags, even the stores had very few wares to sell from what she could see.

The few mammals she could see were all predators, most of them wearing patched clothes, their fur dull and matted, a sign of malnutrition and lack of proper grooming. Most of them walked with their tails and eyes down, beaten but still trudging onwards. The only emotion they showed were brief smiles when a child ran past them playing with a stitched together ball. Even the children were filthy and greasy with a malnourished look. Yet they played on with the optimism rarely found anywhere except in youth. The same optimism, Judy thought, that she was known for before the press conference. The same optimism she was desperately trying to cling to as it slowly slid around her fingers like thick mud from the river bed.

So far Judy hadn't seen any red foxes in the area, but she had to keep her distance so that the predators didn't notice her presence. Finally, acknowledging that the eyesight of nocturnal predators would be better than hers at the moment she decided to turn to her ears to gather information.

Thus, perking her ears up, she listened to the sounds of the village. It was easier than she'd expected as she didn't have to filter out the sounds of cars, it seemed nobody in happy town could afford a car. She caught snippets of conversations, door slamming, children being called home, but she couldn't hear the voice of her favorite fox.

Focusing harder she started to pick up whispered conversations, murmuring, the sounds of a crowd gathering, and… _whimpering?_ Yes, there was definitely the sound of whimpering coming from behind her. _Some mammal's hurt!_ She thought as she turned around. Even off duty, Judy felt the need to perform as a police officer should and aid the animal.

Quickly she turned around and ran towards the sounds, headless of the fact that they were coming from the border of Happy Town and Elephant District. As she ran up Trunk Lane she saw a small gathering of medium and small-sized predators outside of an elephant-sized thrift store called "Trunkloads of Trunks" which shared a wall with a medium and small-sized mammal thrift store with a sign that titled it "Mr. Ferret's Buy'N'Sell".

Looking past the crowd she caught a flash of bushy red fur lying on the ground. Judy's eyes widened and she poured on the speed as she recognized it as the fur of a red fox. As she got closer still she could make out a Pawaiian shirt and a lot of blood. _Nick!_ _Please no! Please Nick, please be o.k.!_ She thought as the whimpering sounds got clearer.

Hearing her approach, the female badger in front of her turned around, and upon seeing the ZPD uniform quickly stepped out of her way giving Judy a clear view of her target. There, lying on the ground, was a male red fox, wearing a light green Pawaiian shirt, a purple striped tie, and light brown pants. _Oh God it is Nick!_ Thought Judy, fear rising up in her as she noticed exactly why the mammal was lying on the ground. The mammal's entire lower body from his pelvis down had been crushed into the pavement, flattened as if a massive weight had been dropped onto the fox. The blood that was pooling underneath it stained the clothes and fur of the fox a deep brownish-red.

"Nick!" Judy yelled as she barreled past the predators surrounding the fox and ran to his side. As she got closer to the fox she quickly felt herself kneel to the suffering animal's side. Judy quickly reached out to comfort her fox as she started to assess the injuries. When her paw touched the injured fox however, the whimpering turned into a loud snarl, the fox bearing its teeth at her. Judy froze in instinctual fear for a few seconds. _Stop it Judy! This is Nick! He needs my help! Don't let your fear, your prejudice, cause you to lose him again!_ She couldn't complete the thought. Quickly she recovered from her fear and put her paw back on the injured fox's torso, stroking him gently to calm him down.

Judy turned to assess the injury, she was no doctor, but the ZPD did have her go through basic first aid training. What she saw mortified her. The fox's entire lower body had been ground into a pulp. There were shards of broken bones sticking out from matted and blooded fur at all angles except up. The fox, her fox, was bleeding out from the pelvis downwards, perhaps the only thing prolonging its suffering was the fact that the crushed skin at the pelvis was actually doing a pretty good job of preventing him from bleeding out.

Judy had to swallow back both the bile rising in her throat and the tears forming in her eyes. _Keep it together Judy. Nick needs you to stay focused for this. You have can't help him if you get emotional._

"Is anyone here a doctor?" She yelled at the gathered crowd.

Nobody moved.

"I need a doctor! Somebody get a doctor!" Judy shrieked at them, hysteria starting to set in.

A whimper caught her attention. She turned back to the trampled fox, resuming her stroking of his fur. "Shh, it's alright." She said. "I'm going to get you help. You'll be alright." Yet as Judy spoke these reassuring words, she knew that she was lying. Her fox was dying right in front of her and there was nothing she could do.

Despite trying to keep it together, despite repeating Nick's mantra " _Never let them see that they get to you."_ Judy burst into tears. This was her fault. She pushed Nick away. If it hadn't been for her cowardice and prejudice, he would have been by her side at the ZPD. They would have solved the savage mammals case by now, and would probably be taking their vacation days to enjoy the sights of Zootopia. There was so much Nick could have shared with her, as her best friend, as her co-worker, as her partner. But no, because of her he was instead dying right in front of her and there was nothing she could do.

"I'm so-so sorry Nick! This is all…all my fault! I'm a hor-hor-horrible friend!" She got out between heart wrenching sobs. "I l-let my fear. My big-bigotry d-drive you away and now…" She couldn't complete her sentence. Her heart was ripping in two.

Judy was wracked with the pain of losing her best friend, the guilt of being the cause of his death, and the guilt of feeling guilty and crying while the fox was suffering and dying right in front of her while she could do nothing about it. Burrying her face into his pelt while she cried she saw scars all over his flesh, and smelt the stench of cigarettes in his fur. _Oh Nick, what happened to you?_ She thought as she cried harder.

After what felt like an eternity of heartbreak Judy felt another paw on her shoulder. Looking up she saw a red panda standing beside her.

"I'm sorry but he wont survive. The only thing you can do now for him is to end his suffering." Said the red panda in a sad and quiet voice while pointedly staring at Judy's tranquilizer gun.

"No!" Gasped Judy, knowing she was in denial but not caring. "No! We ju-just need to get him to a do-doctor. He can be saved! He has to survive!"

The red panda looked at her sadly and reached into her coat and pulled out a card identifying her as a licensed Zootopia Medical Practitioner. "I am a doctor. I'm sorry, but nobody can save him now. I can tranquilize him for you if you can't, but it would be best to end his suffering soon."

The red panda started to reach down into a medical bag that Judy only just started to notice was at the doctor's feet.

"No, no, he-he was-is my f-friend, I'll do it." Sniffed Judy, realizing that it would be cruel to prolong the fox's suffering.

Judy reached into her belt, recalling her ZPD training which specified that small to medium sized mammals should only be tranquilized once, at most twice, and that any more than that could stop their hearts and kill them. She pulled out five tranquilizer darts. _Just to be safe. I promise Nick, you wont suffer any more._ Muttering one last apology and goodbye Judy injected the fox with all five darts.

The deed done, Judy sat beside the fox, continuing to stroke his fur until his breathing stopped. Then she focused her hearing, hearing his heartbeat eventually slow and finally, die.

Judy felt empty. Her heart had broken, and was now empty, devoid of feeling. Her tear-ducts had cried themselves empty, and even though she still felt like crying, there were no more tears streaking through her fur. She sat there in a puddle of her tears and the fox's blood, feeling dead to the world. She didn't care if the predators stared, she didn't care if her pristine uniform was now filthy and covered in blood, she didn't care if the predators blamed her and decided to kill her in retribution for the fox's death. Judy didn't care.

"Why were you calling Mr. Wile Nick?"

Judy's ear's pricked up. She looked around to find the red panda had rummaged through the fox's trousers and pulled out a wallet. Judy couldn't believe it. A mammal had just died and the so called doctor was already looting through his wallet!

"Because that's his name!" Judy spat out "And what are you doing stealing from a dead mammal!" she whispered, cold fury starting to boil in her veins. Nick had been dead for less than a minute and this...predator was already looting the corpse.

"Stealing?" inquired the panda softly. "As I said, I'm a doctor ma'am, and as such I have a duty to report the name, time of death, and cause of death of the deceased. By the way, his name isn't Nick. It's Edward. Edward Wile."

This time Judy was sure she heard the doctor correctly. She hadn't said 'Wilde', she'd said 'Wile', and the first name wasn't Nick, but Edward. She looked down at the deceased fox, noticing for the first time, his fur pattern through the matted and blood-stained fur.

This fox, if it weren't for the blood, had solid red furred paws and ears. Nick's ears had dark tips, as well as his tail, and paws. _This fox isn't Nick._ She thought. _This fox isn't Nick!_ She repeated. _Nick could still be alive!_ Judy concluded, elated that her fox was not the one to die here today. Upon realizing her elation however, shame flooded through her. The deceased fox may not be Nick, but that was no reason to be happy for his death. He was still a mammal who suffered and died needlessly, a mammal who probably left behind family and friends. A mammal who, if what Judy was learning about Zootopia was true, likely led a hard and painful life which climaxed at this gruesome and painful end. She shouldn't feel joy at this mammal's death. Yet she couldn't help but feel happy that it was not Nick who had died.

Taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, Judy calmed down, cleared her throat, and stood up. First turning to the red panda she apologized. "I'm so sorry for my accusation Mrs…?"

"Fulgens" said the panda with a small smile.

"Fulgens. I let my emotions get the better of me. It was unprofessional and I apologize for my groundless accusations. I hope you can forgive me?"

"Of course." Mrs. Fulgens said with a small smile playing on her lips. She knew of the stereotype around rabbits.

Judy then turned to address the crowd, channeling her ZPD officer persona. "Did anyone see what the cause of this poor fox's death was?" She asked the crowd. "Please come forward if you did, I will need witness statements to open this investigation."

Nobody moved.

"Please, I want to get justice for this fox, I need your help to do so."

Still nobody moved.

"Please?" Pleaded Judy. She couldn't believe it. With all of these mammals around, somebody had to have seen what had happened. Why was nobody coming forward?

Finally, after a long while, a familiar mammal stepped forward. It was Mrs. Otterton.

"Mrs. Otterton!" Exclaimed Judy. "Please, did you see what happened? Who did this…this horrible thing?"

Mrs. Otterton approached cautiously. "Judy, we don't want to come forward because nobody here wants any trouble. We just want to be left alone. But I trust you Judy. Despite what you said at the savage press conference. You helped find my Emmet, you visited us many times at the hospital, and after today, I think we can trust you despite you being prey. Can we trust you Judy?"

 _Despite me being prey?_ Thought Judy. _Since when have prey been dangerous or scary? Since the press conference. Since your bigotry set ninety percent of a metropolis against the other ten percent. Since the prey held power and allowed their fears to let them abuse their power._ She was the dangerous one. It was not predators who were to be feared, despite their size, their claws, their teeth. It was the prey mammals who held power, and who were abusing it out of fear. Judy represented that. A cowardly rabbit protected by the muscle of the entire ZPD and ninety percent of the population, capable of starting a civil war just because she was instinctually afraid of predators.

Judy looked sadly at Mrs. Otterton. "Mrs Otterton. I am so sorry." She turned to the rest of the gathered predatory crowd, her tear-ducts once again beginning to work. "All of you. I let my own fears and prejudice cause me to say something horrible and untrue about you during the press conference. And as-as a result you hav-have all had to suffer so much. Pl-please help me make it right, help me bring this fox-fox's killer to justice." She choked out, barely keeping herself from crying.

Judy suddenly found herself once again being hugged by Mrs. Otterton "Bless you little bunny." She heard whispered into her ears. Judy nearly smiled at that reminder of their first meeting.

Releasing the hug, Mrs. Otterton stepped back and stated softly "I saw everything, Mr. Wile here was leaving Mr. Ferret's Buy'N'Sell at the same time as a large elephant couple were leaving Trunkloads of Trunks. Mr. Wile accidentally bumped into the female elephant, who said some very nasty things about him. Mr. Wile looked up and snarled at the female elephant and she stepped back behind the large male elephant beside her. The male elephant then yelled out "Watch out Bertha! He's going savage!" and then stomped on poor Mr. Wile. When Mr. Wile tried to get up, his legs clearly broken, the elephant yelled at him "Stay down savage" and stomped on him twice more before hurrying off with his girlfriend. It was horrible. I didn't know what to do." Concluded Mrs. Otterton with her eyes full of tears.

"Why didn't anyone want to tell me this?" Asked Judy in disbelief as she comforted Mrs. Otterton.

"With the city being the way it is? We were afraid you would just arrest us or worse." Exclaimed a nearby ferret. "You prey have always stuck together and persecuted us predators!"

"Besides!" shouted a weasel in the back "If you do arrest the elephant on our testimony, who's to say his friends wont come do the same thing to us? I'd rather live thank you!"

"Are you saying none of you would be willing to testify?" Judy asked in disbelief. A murderer could walk because these mammals, these predators were too afraid of prey.

The gathered crowd all shook their heads 'no' while murmuring. Mrs. Otterton looked to Judy. "You must understand Judy, I have two boys and my husband to worry about. I cannot testify if that would put them in danger." She said sadly.

"But what about anonymous testimony? It's not as strong, but at least we can get some information written down for a case." She asked, desperate at least for a statement she could use to open a case.

The female badger in the back that had allowed Judy through the crowd shook her head. "Only prey are allowed to testify anonymously. Because of the distrust of predatory animals like foxes and weasels, all predator testimony must include the name and photograph of the testifying mammal."

 _Right_. Judy remembered that law. At the time she had thought it a law that made sense. That way if they found a predator who gave false testimony they could keep their name and image in the system so as to avoid repeatedly getting false testimony. Only now, a law that had made so much sense to her back then, was silencing the witnesses of a murder and allowing the culprit to get away with, well, murder.

 _Damn it_. Thought Judy. _To get justice here I'm going to have bend or even break the law. But the alternative is to let a criminal get away with murder. Nick would come up with a way._ Then it hit her. She was a prey mammal. She could testify anonymously. Of course, she hadn't witnessed the crime, but there were no laws against hearsay in anonymous witness testimony. After all, only prey could testify anonymously, and Zootopia trusted prey. She could testify and put forward all of the information from these mammals while neglecting to mention their species. If asked, she could just say that it was a very emotional time for her and that she could not remember their species.

With her plan of action in mind, Judy stepped forward and addressed the crowd. "I will testify for you. I can testify with all of the information you can give me. Please, anything to help catch the mammal who did this."

And so Judy listened to testimony after testimony, taking notes with her carrot pen and notepad as she watched the sun set. _Sorry Chief, I guess I will be out a little later than sunset tonight._

* * *

 **After Note:**

Whew, what a long Chapter, and this is only half of it! Don't worry, the other half will be uploaded as another chapter, so nobody's going to miss the update.

Still, this is all unedited so far, so if anyone wants to volunteer to be my editor, it would be much appreciated.

Also, unfortunately, my updates are going to come out at a much slower pace from now on. I'm starting a unique law program which is going to keep me extremely busy. I will of course, struggle to finish this story for you guys so long as I keep getting those reviews.


	6. Chapter 5(B)

**Author's Notes** **:**

Hey guys! Turns out I'm not dead! Nor is this fic abandoned.

I wasn't kidding about the intensive program. It's even worse than I thought, I only get 2-3 hours of spare time per day, and not all of that time can be creative writing time.

Anyways, here's another long installment for chapter 5. There are some things that just need to happen in this chapter before I move on to the next line in the lyrics. Even worse, the chapter's not over yet. I probably have one more installment of around 7,000 words before I can safely finish this chapter.

Unfortunately, updates are probably going to start coming out at a rate of one every 2 weeks now as I'm extremely busy. Sorry, that's just the way the cookie crumbles, I just hope my writing quality doesn't suffer as a result.

Oh, and don't worry guys, Nick gets a much more active role, not in the next chapter, but the one after that. Judy simply has a lot of catching up to do, and some time needs to pass before I can return to Nick. A fox doesn't simply become wild after a few days in the woods.

[Insert generic copyright disclaimer here]

On with the show!

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts**

 **(J)Is there something more / (N)Don't take your eyes off the trigger (Part 2)**

Judy sighed as she trudged into the ZPD. She had spent an extra two hours after sundown at the scene of the murder last night in order to ensure that she had gotten everyone's testimony written down. After that she had to bus another hour all the way back to her apartment at the Grand Pangolin Arms, undress, brush her teeth and flop into bed. When she'd gotten home she was mentally and emotionally exhausted from the day and all she wanted to do was sleep until her alarm went off in four hours. Her body, however, had other plans as she hadn't had much physical exercise that day. So, Judy currently found herself looking forward to a day of writing up her witness statement on the murder, and visiting Happy Town with chief Bogo, all on a meager two hours of sleep.

Walking past the reception desk, Judy looked to the top of the desk and sighed when she saw the unopened box of donuts sitting on the edge. Without a word she held out her arms and waited for Ms. Galope to drop the box in her arms.

"Wow Judy, you look exhausted." Commented the antelope as she grabbed the box of donuts. "You doing alright?"

"No." Said Judy, trying to keep her voice at least civil if not cheerful. "Look, I…I saw something pretty horrible last night, and I don't feel like talking about it right now. Tell you about it later?" She asked, hoping she wouldn't ever have to tell the antelope about the sight of the broken and dying fox, or the fact that she'd thought it was Nick.

"Sure, whenever you feel like talking hon." Responded the antelope. Suddenly her hooves dropped the donut box back on her desk and flew to her mouth. "Oh, oh no, that was unprofessional of me wasn't it?" She asked, her eyes widening a little out of shock and shame.

Judy almost laughed, she just didn't quite have the energy for it, so she let out a chuckle instead. "No. It's alright, Clawhauser talks that way all the time. It never got him in trouble." Judy really thought that the two would make an excellent couple. Both the antelope and the cheetah were very kind mammals, who's mere presence and words worked to both soothe and calm the stressed mammals often found at the ZPD.

"Maybe I'll just take these to Clawhauser myself on my lunch break, save you the trip?" Asked the antelope, interrupting Judy's musings on the Galope Clawhauser couple. Judy thought she heard a little bit of hope in the antelope's voice. _I guess some-prey still wants to visit poor Clawhauser_ _despite him being a predator._ Judy thought, a smile coming to her lips. Still, she had to make sure.

"You're not…scared of him? That he might go savage?"

"Pfft. That big softy? I'm more afraid of him having a heart attack than going savage. Besides, you go down there to visit him all the time, and I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. Not that I'm saying you couldn't. Just gotta leave the room and close the door right?" Replied the antelope, nervously rushing her explanation at the end.

 _Oh Rachel Galope you sweet, wonderful antelope_. Judy hadn't even considered the possibility that even if a mammal like Clawhauser went savage, he wouldn't be a threat. None of the savage mammals so far had demonstrated intelligence, something as simple as a reinforced door could probably stop most of them. Furthermore, it wasn't as if going savage gave them super mammal strength or speed, only what they already naturally had. Even she could probably take down a savage Clawhauser, after-all, she'd taken down a trained and intelligent rhino at the training academy during sparring.

"Alright then, you two have fun. I have to get to the bullpen, don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Teased Judy as she started walking to the room where the officers would have roll-call and be given their assignments for the day. A moment later, the lapin's long ears heard a small scoff behind her. _That better not be a bunny joke brewing_ she thought. When her ears didn't pick up any more words from the antelope, she took a moment to appreciate the humor, even if it was based on a stereotype she didn't follow.

Reaching the door to the bullpen Judy jumped up and grabbed the handle kicking off the door and swinging it open. Even that small act in her everyday routine was a small challenge with how tired she was.

Judy had to struggle to stay awake and alert during chief Bogo's roll call and assignments. Even though the buffalo was brief and accepted no nonsense when handing out the day's assignments, it seemed to take forever to Judy who was struggling to keep her eyes open and her ears perked.

Once finished with the assignments, the chief turned to leave the room and get back to trying to run his now understaffed police department. As he neared the door however he heard officer Hopps call out to him. Turning back to the bunny officer he noted that she looked exhausted, ears sagging and occasionally jerking back up as Judy perked them again, only to resume their sagging moments later. Judy's eyelids and polite smile were doing the same thing and her movements were heavy and sluggish.

"Officer Hopps" he addressed the rabbit officer "why do you look more suited to bedrest than work at the moment?"

"Sorry sir." Judy apologised. "I had an…incident at the edge of Happy Town last night. It took me a while longer to get some rest than I'd anticipated."

Chief Bogo watched as the bunny stifled a yawn, reminding him that although she had recently cracked all fourteen kidnapping cases, she was still just a rookie, and a very tired one at that.

"I'm actually just about to write a report on it, as well as submit a witness statement for you sir. But before that, I would like to know when you would be available for us to investigate Happy Town."

The buffalo nodded, remembering his promise to officer Hopps the other night, as well as the pressing need to solve the on-going savage mammals case as things were getting worse every day. Sighing, he devised a plan of action that should get the information required while keeping his officers alive and capable of continuing to serve on the force.

"I will be quite busy until around three o'clock in the afternoon. I want you to write that report and get it to me as soon as you can. If you finish before then, catch up on some sleep before we head out to Happy Town."

Officer Judy Hopps snapped a salute to her chief. The form was perfect as usual but it lacked the pep and speed of her usual salutes. "Thank you sir. I will do that." She said as she headed over to the door.

"And Hopps. When we are finished investigating Happy Town, I want you to head straight home and catch up on your sleep. No extracurricular activities no matter what we find out. Got it?" the buff buffalo yelled out at his over-dedicated officer.

Judy heard her chief, and although she knew it was rude, she simply looked at him and nodded from the doorway, too exhausted to speak at that moment. The chief snorted. _I hope I don't get you killed officer Hopps._

* * *

Judy slumped at her desk, finally finished typing up both the report and her witness statement on the night before. She had…conveniently left out the fact that she'd been overly emotional and crying on the dying fox, as well as the fact that all of her witnesses had been predatory mammals. With any luck, the elephant would be found quickly and brought to justice. She looked at the clock. She still had three hours before she had to meet the chief for their investigation in Happy Town. So, true to the chief's command she turned off her computer, raised her chair, crossed her arms over her desk, and flopped her head down on them. Ears falling over her head, arms, and the keyboard in front of them, she quickly fell asleep.

* * *

"…Hopps if you are not awake within the next five seconds I am going to handcuff you to your chair and go to Happy Town without you."

Judy jerked awake from her dreamless slumber. Her sleep had been so deep that not even the entrance of chief Bogo nor his calling from behind her in her cubicle had woken her up. Strangely, she felt somewhat refreshed. Her mind was clearer and the weight of having to put down the mortally wounded fox fell less heavily on her heart. Coupling her rested state with the thought that she might finally be able to find Nick today and regain her friend's help and trust made Judy nearly giddy. Something about having chased her fox around for over a week, then thinking she had had to watch him die made her really miss him.

"Sorry chief. I'm awake. Let's go." She said, not quite back to her usual self, and not willing to mince words when she could be out finding her fox. Funny how one fox could become so important, not only to Judy's happiness, but also to solving the savage mammals case and dissipating the fear and anger that was brewing into a potential civil war.

The chief merely grunted, also eager to find the fox and repair his city. He wouldn't say it of course, but some of his best officers had resigned to avoid wearing the tame collars, and he was beginning to miss them.

So the big buffalo and rested rabbit made their way to the department's garage to sign out a police cruiser for their trip. The chief signed out a rather large cruiser to allow himself to sit comfortably in it. Choosing to drive himself as he rarely got to go out of the office and missed driving the police cruisers, the chief stepped into the driver's side of the vehicle and turned the key in the ignition while he waited for officer Hopps to get in through the passenger's side. Hearing the car door slam shut, and the click of officer Hopps' seatbelt the chief merely grunted his acknowledgement and drove out of the garage.

The chief loved being able to simply drive. It was about the only time he got to himself lately. The resignation of most of the predators on the force had deprived him of close to half of his police force. This in turn meant that he and the few mammals he trusted had to work double or even triple shifts to keep up with the extra cases that the savage mammal outbreak was giving Zootopia. When he was driving however, time was all his. No need to work on documents, worry about scheduling, managing, or politics. Just him and the car. Oh, and officer Hopps sleeping in the passenger seat.

Bogo was thoroughly enjoying his driving time, having even gotten to listen to his favorite Gazelle song on the radio two or three times. Unfortunately, they soon arrived at Happy Town. The chief sighed as he schooled his face into a stern expression for when he had to wake up officer Hopps.

"Hopps, get up or I'll turn this car around and go back to the precinct. I've got too much work to do to watch you nap."

Judy woke up from her nap in the passenger seat. The chief had been a surprisingly smooth driver and there had been no excitement to wake her up during the drive. Judy stretched her arms and then her legs as she looked at her surroundings. The first thing to check was whether or not the chief was serious in his threat. He was. Next Judy checked out her location. Looking out the passenger side window she realized that they were parked right in front of the entrance to the apartment complex that Fru Fru told her Nick had been staying at.

"Let's go officer Hopps." Said the chief, having gotten out of the car and opening the passenger's side door while Judy had been stretching and gawking. _Get it together Jude_ she thought. _It's not like you to be this out of sorts, you let a freaking buffalo get around you without noticing!_ Judy quickly shook her head, unbuckled her seat belt and hopped out of the police cruiser. Once her feet hit the ground she had to duck quickly to avoid getting her ears slammed in the door as the chief slammed her door shut. Judy was a little upset that the chief hadn't waited for her to get clear of the door before closing it. _Well he's waiting now_ she thought as the chief stood by the car door staring at her.

Realizing that her chief wasn't about to make the first move, Judy marched up to the door of the apartment complex. The complex was small, meant for medium-sized mammals, Judy doubted the chief would even fit through the doorway. The bricks that composed the wall of the building were worn down and in some need of repair, however, they were no worse off than the rest of the bricks in the community. _At least the sidewalk is washed_ Judy noted, half expecting the sidewalk to be covered in grime and broken glass.

Judy knocked on the wooden door that served as the entrance to the apartment complex. She hoped that the manager or owner would answer the door and not one of the tenants. While she was a police officer performing an investigation in line with her duties, she was not looking forward to talking to potentially hostile predators. She was the only bunny cop in Zootopia, so she was certain that she'd be recognized pretty easily. As the officer who basically started this predator vs prey war, her presence was not likely to be appreciated.

So Judy waited nervously for some mammal to answer the door after she knocked. When nobody answered after two minutes (and some pointed stares from chief Bogo), she looked to see if there was a buzzer or doorbell she could use. There was. Judy felt like an idiot for having missed it the first time. Judy quickly pushed the buzzer, fighting the blush that was making its way up her face. After a few moments she heard a gruff yell from inside the building.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Keep your pants on!"

Suddenly the door opened to reveal a grouchy looking badger in shorts and an undershirt.

"You could have just walked in you know. Door's unlocked." He grumbled before looking at the mammal he was opening the door for. Having said that, he took a look at the mammal that was dumb enough to ring the buzzer to his complex instead of walking in. His eyes widened in recognition of what he saw.

"Officer Hopps. I should probably invite you in. Not many folk around here think too highly of you right now."

A pointed grunt from chief Bogo turned the badger's attention towards the buffalo. "And the chief. Sorry sir, but you'll forgive me if I don't invite you. I doubt you and my doorframe are…compatible." The chief continued to stare pointedly at the badger, crossing his arms. The badger gulped. "And I promise that no harm will befall officer Hopps while she is with me." He said, hoping to keep that promise.

"It better not." Was all the chief said before snorting and releasing the badger's gaze. The badger gave a nervous chuckle and turned towards the hallway. "Anyways officer Hopps, please follow me to my office."

Judy followed the older badger through the poorly lit and dingy hallway. Looking at the walls they appeared to be relatively clean, although the existence of cobwebs and mold at the corners and upper edges of the walls put the lie to the image of a well looked after building. Obviously an effort was made to keep the apartment building clean, but there was not much attention to detail.

The grime streaked on the walls showing off the cleaning pattern also indicated a lack of proper cleaning supplies. Judy shivered at the thought of living in such a place. Her own apartment may be small, but at least her landlord ensured that it was clean. The monthly de-lousing, as well as the meticulously cleaned hallways, bathrooms and showers were something Judy truly appreciated about her living arrangement. Although, from the time she spent with Nick, he probably spent so much time outside that he didn't even notice.

Coming to the door to his office, the badger opened it, walking in and gesturing for Judy to take a seat on the chair in front of his desk. _Finally, a chair my size_. Thought Judy as she sat down while the badger walked behind his desk and plopped into his cushier chair.

The two mammals sat on opposite sides of the badger's desk for a few moments, neither sure of how to start the conversation. The badger was content to sit on his thoughts until either he came up with an appropriate thing to say, or the rabbit across from him started the conversation. Judy on the other hand was getting impatient and struggled to find some way to begin.

"So Mr…?" She trailed on, hoping at least to get a name from the mammal sitting across from her.

The badger sighed, normally he would have avoided talking to the ZPD, but the rabbit officer in front of him was evoking mixed feelings, hope and fear being two of the simpler ones to identify.

"Name's Gussik. And yes, I am declining to give the ZPD my last name." He started, not willing to give the officer too many details about himself.

A name was good enough for Judy however. "Mr. Gussik. As you are aware, I am an officer of the ZPD and I am currently assigned to a missing mammal case that I believe you can help me with."

Gussik for his part, managed not to let his warring feelings display on his face. On the one hand, he didn't trust the ZPD one bit, and would have declined to help any other officer, either flat out or by maintaining that he had no useful information for them. On the other hand, the rabbit in front of him was not a normal officer. Earlier that day he had received a call from his ex, Honey, where she described to him the shocking actions of ZPD's only rabbit officer towards a dying fox just the previous night. The news had surprised him, and somehow, someway, managed to shine a small ray of hope through the bleakness that was Zootopia as of late. A bleakness, which was getting darker every day. Like a drowning mammal reaching for a life raft, Gussik reached for that ray.

"Alright officer Hopps, I will assist you, but **only** you, and any information I don't give to you, you are to assume I know nothing about. I don't trust the rest of the ZPD. "

Nose twitching in slight confusion at the rather lengthy statement from the badger, Judy thought over his words. _Why wouldn't he trust the ZPD? Oh right, because we are now an exclusively prey staffed force with a tendency towards violence when dealing with predators_.

"That is acceptable Gussik, I do not wish to cause you or your tenants any distress." She said, hoping that her words might serve to buttress whatever it was that made Gussik claim to trust her over the rest of the ZPD. Deciding it was best to be as forthcoming as possible with Gussik she continued "I am currently looking for a red fox by the name of Nicholas Wilde. He may have critical information about the savage mammals case and I would like to put him under my personal protection." in as official a voice as she could muster. "He's also my friend, and I want to make sure that he is safe." Judy added in a near whisper as the thought about the fate of the poor fox she had been with the previous night.

Gussik, fortunately, had heard Judy's added whisper and was able to put two and two together. Gussik knew now why officer Hopps had been so distraught at seeing the injured fox, and why she had reacted the way she did. And with that revelation came the realization that officer Hopps truly did care about Nick, reinforcing Gussik's belief that he could trust her.

So, silently wishing he had more to give the rabbit officer, knowing that with his word alone he could re-unite these two friends, potentially enabling them to solve the outbreak of savage mammals and restore predator and prey relations, possibly even improving them through the friendship of a fox and a bunny and providing an example for future generations to come, Gussik carefully fashioned his response.

So, silently wishing he had more to give the rabbit officer, Gussik proceded to tell officer Judy Hopps everything he could about Nicholas Wilde's location. "He ain't here."

The bunny cop continued to sit and stare.

Gussik tried again.

"I can tell you where he might have gone. If you promise he will not be harmed."

"What do you think we're going to do? Torture him?" Judy asked, slightly indignant that the badger was being so distrusting. As if the ZPD, paragon of justice and virtue, would torture an animal without just cause. At least, that's what she would have believed a few weeks ago. Now she was not so sure.

"Wouldn't surprise me." The badger grunted, gesturing to Judy's hip. "I have yet to meet a peaceful cop that carries around fox repellent."

Judy didn't even have to look down to know what he was gesturing at, she still felt its weight in her holster. The physical weight had not been significant enough to justify getting rid of it, however it weighed more heavily on her spirit every time it was brought up. _I really should just get rid of it_ Judy thought, making a mental note to dispose of the repellent as soon as she got back to precinct one's police department. _First it cost me Nick, now it is costing me the trust of the mammals I need to help me._

The weight of her thoughts pushed heavily down through her heart and into the bunny's diaphragm, causing her to let out a sad sigh while she stared directly into the eyes of the small predator in front of her. A predator who she needed to trust her right now, yet the badger had plenty of reasons to distrust her, and few to trust.

"You have my word, as an officer of the ZPD that no harm will come to Nicholas Wilde while he is in my care." Judy told the badger, never glancing away from his eyes, nor blinking.

Gussik suppressed a growl managing an angry huff instead. "The word of an officer of the ZPD is worthless in this community. I want your word as Judy Hopps, first bunny officer, friend of Nicholas Wilde. I also want to know that you will not trust his care to any other member of the ZPD." Gussik trembled with barely supressed anger as he remembered the 'care' he'd seen the ZPD give predators over the last few weeks.

 _Great, even the ZPD is no longer trusted by the predator community. Small wonder, what with those Tame Collars and the entire predatory force resigning as a result. I wouldn't be surprised if a few officers were allowing their prejudices to affect their work either._ Judy made a mental note to ask chief Bogo about it later. If this community didn't trust the ZPD, there must be a reason behind it, and that reason needed to be sought out and corrected if the ZPD were to maintain its authority over the citizens of Zootopia.

"You have my word, as Judith Laverne Hopps, as Nicholas Wilde's friend." Judy solemnly told the badger, understanding that to him her word as an individual was worth much more than the word of her station.

Satisfied with the word of the bunny who had shed tears for, and tried her best to provide aid to a dying fox just the other night, Gussik impressed himself with what would turn out to be his longest monologue for the week. "Good. Last I spoke with him, I had to ask him to leave the apartment. Too many mammals here were blaming him for not stopping you at the press conference. He used to live with Finnick before he came here, and so I suggested he go back to live with him for a bit."

Judy was on the verge of swearing. All of that work, trying to track down Nick had led nowhere! She had gotten lucky that her friend Fru Fru had known where Nick used to live, but now that was turning out to be a dead end as well. Here she was exhausted, worn out, emotionally frayed from the rollercoaster that had been the previous night, and finally thinking that she was on the right track, only to find out she was still two steps behind her fox! Judy couldn't help it, she let her head flop down onto the table in front of her and let her frustration and emotions silently pour out through her tear ducts.

Gussik watched the bunny, sensing her frustration in the tightness of her muscles, and in the short and sharp breaths she was taking. From her position on the table, face still hidden from the badger, Judy asked herself "Am I ever going to find him?"

"Yup, lives in a red van. In Happy Town somewhere, it's too dangerous for a Fennec fox to be anywhere else right now."

Judy looked up at the badger, glaring with bloodshot eyes. _I didn't mean Finnick, I meant Nick. Whatever, it doesn't matter. One step at a time Jude the dude, get it done one step at a time._ While internally giving herself that sad excuse for a pep talk, Judy processed the badger's words. _Wait a minute! Red van, fennec fox… Finnick must be the mammal Nick was hustling pawpsicles with! I could recognize that van anywhere!_ Deciding that she could do it after all Judy decided on a course of action. _First I will find Finnick, then I WILL find Nick. I will apologise to him and beg for his help solving the savage mammals case. And after we're done, I hope we can be friends, but I wont force him. I wouldn't want to be friends with someone who treated me the way I treated him._

Sighing one last time to regain her composure, Judy sat up straight, wiped her eyes, and forced her ears back to an alert position on her head. "Thank you Gussik. You have been very helpful. I'd best be looking for Finnick then."

"I'll show you out then." Said the badger, still concerned about his promise to the chief of the ZPD that no harm would befall the bunny officer. Some of his tenants may not be aware of the bunny officer's actions the previous night and would see the lone bunny as a perfect opportunity to vent their frustrations at the situation that she had admittedly caused.

Luckily, they passed through the building without incident. That is until they got to the front door at the same time as an arctic fox was returning from her shopping.

"Well, look who we have here! I was wondering why there was a ZPD cruiser outside the front door. The famous bunny cop who brought the predators of Zootopia to their knees." The fox put down her grocery bags and knelt on one knee. "Your majesty." She said with an angry snarl.

Judy's anger rose. The brief cry she'd had in Gussik's office hadn't been nearly enough to relieve her of her stress and frustration and building self-loathing. On top of all of that, here was a fox who was mocking her as she was trying to do the right thing! About to retaliate in kind, Judy paused as her anger at herself caused her to become introspective instead. She had done as the arctic fox said, and now was the time to start making up for it.

"I'm sorry." Judy said contritely, ears pinned to the back of her head as she looked up at the kneeling arctic fox. "I should not have said what I said at that press conference. I was wrong."

The fox's sneer vanished and she responded with the most eloquently phrased question she could come up with at the time. "What?"

Remembering her conversation with Bogo after the disasterous press conference, as well as how the rodents in Little Rodentia had responded to Nick Judy continued. "I was wrong. I didn't know anything about why predators were going savage and I let my own prejudice and fear make me say horrible things about predators as a whole. I know now that predators are just as evolved as prey and that you cannot simply de-evolve. If anything, it is prey who need to continue to evolve so that we don't let our fear cause us to behave irrationally. Predators can be just as kind and caring as any prey, and prey can be just as ruthless and cruel as we fear predators may be. I have made many mistakes and you are paying for them now. That's why I am sorry. But I promise you this. I WILL find out what is causing mammals to go savage, and I WILL put a stop to it and clear the names of all the mammals who have been affected."

Both Judy and the arctic fox stared at each other for a few moments, both impressed with the sincerity and vigor behind the bunny officer's speech. The arctic fox was even a little impressed by the speech, but more so by the fire of determination that she could see in the little bunny's eyes. Both however, had been too distracted to notice the door on Judy's right opening and Duke Weaselton coming out of the room.

Acting quickly, the weasel noticed the bottle of fox repellent on the bunny's hip and snatched it out of the holster. Having initially heard the conversation and planning to toy with the bunny, he'd decided it was probably safest if he 'confiscated' that little item first.

"Well well well, if it isn't flopsy the copsy. What are you doing in Happy Town. Don't you know it's dangerous for a little bunny like you to be here all alone?" said the weasel as he snarled and bared his teeth at the officer.

Judy turned to face the weasel, recognition and annoyance flashing across her face before she schooled her features into a smirk. _Thanks Nick_. "Duke Weaselton. Put those insect impalers away before you hurt yourself. We both know there's no point in you threatening me, I could take you down with two paws tied behind my back."

"True, but currently you're the only prey mammal who I can do that to without worrying about being flattened into a weasel flapjack." He responded as he started to inspect the can of fox repellent. While the stuff disgusted him, he'd never actually held a bottle of it before and he found himself wondering if he could reproduce the label.

Judy stared at the weasel, unsure if he was seriously afraid of the prey mammals in Zootopia, or if he was somehow mocking her about last night. _It's too dangerous for a fennec fox to be anywhere else right now._ The lenses of Judy's mind were slowly focusing on an image of Zootopia that Judy wasn't sure she wanted to see.

"So twinkle toes, I asked you a question. What are you doing in our little slice of Zootopia? Shouldn't you be out with the rest of the cops assaulting innocent predators?" Continued the weasel, taking advantage of the bunny's silence.

"Uh no." Responded Judy, not liking what the weasel was hinting at. "I'm actually here to find Nick. I need to apologise to him and ask for his help. I don't suppose you've seen him?" _Honesty seemed to work with Gussik, I hope it works here too._

"Haven't seen him. Tell you what flat foot. So long as you're carrying this stuff, you ain't never gonna find him."

Judy scoffed as she watched the weasel continue to inspect her can of fox repellent. She would have preferred not to have it right now, but her instincts were screaming at her not to let the weasel have it either. "And why would a can prevent me from finding Nick?" She asked.

"Ain't no fox gonna talk to a prey carrying this stuff around. You got your lucky rabbit's foot to thank for any predator talking to you at all while you're carrying this. Not worth the risk." Duke Weaselton responded while still idly inspecting the canister.

"And how is it risky to talk to me?" Asked Judy, getting more than a bit fed up with the weasel's attitude.

"You ain't never been sprayed with this stuff before have you?"

"Well of course not. I'm not a…"

"Well let me help you with that." Interrupted the weasel, a malicious sneer crossing his face as he quickly lurched forward and sprayed the fox repellent in Judy's face.

In that moment, whether from shock, sleep deprivation, or stress, Judy was too slow to avoid the incoming spray. As soon as it hit her in the face, Judy's pain receptors went into pandemonium. Her brain couldn't keep up with where the pain signals were even coming from they were so intense. All she could do was scream.

*CRUNCH*

The poor doorframe couldn't even defend itself from Bogo's horns as the chief quickly forced his way through the doorway and towards his officer.

Glaring at the badger standing between him and his officer (the arctic fox had quickly run out of the way), the bulked out buffalo yelled "YOU TOLD ME SHE WOULD NOT BE HARMED!"

Gussik, for his part, was remarkably calm for having just been yelled at by the chief of police. Having been married to a honey badger and dealing with her anger had let him realize that the anger itself was not a threat. In this case, the chief was concerned about his officer, not with causing injury to the nearby badger.

"She hasn't been. It's just fox repellent." responded the badger calmly, hoping that the chief was like his ex and that a calm voice would help to control the anger on the buffalo's face.

"Then why, is she screaming?" Asked the chief, somewhat impressed by the calmness of the badger, and still very much concerned about the safety of his officer.

"Fox repellent will do that to you." Gussik replied.

Quickly moving to take the rabbit officers paw in his own he continued. "Follow me officer Hopps, we have a repellant cleaning station right this way." Gussik said as he led the fox to the door immediately in front of the front entrance.

Opening the door, Gussik revealed a medium-sized room that contained a sink, a mirror that swung open to reveal a cabinet, an eye-wash station, and a shower. Quickly opening the cabinet he pulled out a small white cloth and dampened it in the sink. Gussik then proceeded instruct the bunny to keep her eyes shut while he wiped at the fur on her face surrounding her eyes and nose.

After a minute or two of cleaning Gussik then threw the towel into a bin and took Judy over to the eye cleaning station. He adjusted the height and pressure of the water so that it fell just under Judy's eye level. The badger then instructed her to hold her eyes open and lower her head so that the water would wash her eyes clean. The relief Judy felt upon washing her eyes was almost instantaneous, although her eyes still stung fiercely, they didn't hurt her nearly as bad as they had. Her nose, lungs, and skin under the sprayed fur however, were still demanding her immediate attention by sending pain signals so powerful that Judy seriously wondered if a bunny could survive having her lungs removed.

Gussik then instructed her to stand in the shower while he went back to the cabinet and pulled out an electric all-purpose fur razor. After plugging it in he went over to Judy and proceeded to shave off all of the fur on her face that had been sprayed. Once satisfied that all of the offending repellent covered fur had been removed, the badger instructed Judy to wash her face at the sink using a fresh cloth.

While she was washing her face she wondered at the fact that the apartment building had a room set up specifically for this purpose. So she asked the badger.

"Simple really, an all pred apartment building sees this room used at least once every three days. When Nick first got here he'd have to use this room at least three times a week." Replied Gussik fondly recalling the bravado with which the fox would come in, joke about being sprayed again, and proceed to clean up. Not many mammals could joke about that kind of pain and take it in stride.

Seeing that Judy had finished cleaning her face he pulled out a tube of cream from the cabinet. "Got this one from Nick, said it was the best at soothing the skin after gettin' sprayed." He said as he used a third cloth to rub the cream into the now exposed face of the rabbit officer.

Once finished, Gussik threw the third cloth into the nearby basket and stood back, allowing chief Bogo to see his officer and assure himself that she was alright. Judy for her part, did not feel alright. Her lungs and airways still burned, and her eyes and skin felt raw. However, with the offending spray now completely removed the pain was dulled from a thought consuming level to one that merely had her gritting her teeth.

"I'm fine chief." She said, knowing that neither of them believed her words.

"You don't look fine." He replied. "Let's go."

The big buffalo's frame left the doorway to the washing room as he retreated back into the hallway, his frame filling up the entire hall. As Judy followed him out, she noticed a handcuffed Duke Weaselton sitting on the ground with his back against the opposite wall staring at her. The chief must have moved remarkably fast for such a large animal in such a small hallway to have cuffed the weasel.

"Enjoying the make-over? Not fun is it?" He quipped from his position on the ground. "Not worth me going to jail though. Little weasel like me'll probably die in there."

Judy looked at the weasel, the pain still burning through her eyes and lungs helping her to understand what the poorly articulated weasel was trying to say. She should count herself lucky that any predatory mammal had talked to her at all after noticing her carrying fox repellent. In fact, if Nick had noticed it on their first meeting, it was a miracle he'd stuck with her to solve the missing mammals case. _Probably just stuck with me because I threatened him_ she thought to herself. However, this thought was quickly interrupted with her memory of what happened on the night they found Manchez going savage. _Nick protected me then. Well my badge anyways, but he stood up for me, despite knowing that nobody would believe a fox, despite my carrying fox repellent._ Nick had given her a chance, had stood up for her dream, and she'd repaid him with bigotry, ignorance and fear.

"Chief, please un-cuff Duke Weaselton. I had dropped the fox repellent and accidentally sprayed myself while picking it up. He had nothing to do with it." _I know it's not enough to repay you for what I've done, but it's all I can do for now_. Honestly, Judy thought that she owed the weasel not only for her actions at the press conference, but also for the forced lesson on exactly what it was the fox repellent she had carried represented. The bottle was a symbol of compliance through the threat of brutality. After all, most predators were taken in to the station with the spray still on their muzzles and not allowed to clean up for quite a while. Judy had been lucky to be able to remove the stuff quickly.

"Thanks twitchy." Said the weasel as he felt the handcuffs unlock from around his wrists. "Don't worry, the fur usually grows back within a week. You'll be back to being the cute little meter maid in no time."

Judy chose to ignore the weasel's parting comment as she turned to her chief.

"Chief Bogo, I request one more stop before we return to the department."

"Fine. Get in the car."

The pair of police officers turned and left the building in silence, Gussik having taken the opportunity to leave once Judy was cleaned up, there was no one in the hallway to even say goodbye to. It felt wrong to Judy to just leave without saying anything, but she supposed it must have been normal around Happy Town.

Once outside of the building Judy was about to turn to her police chief to ask if they could search for the red van that would lead her to the fennec fox she was now looking for. However, before she could get a word out, she heard a familiar deep pitched voice.

"Yo! Officer toot toot! My boy's missing, you blues have anything to do with it?"

Turning to the source of the voice, Judy saw an angry little fennec fox marching towards her on the sidewalk, the tip of his van poking out from around the corner. Judy noted the parking violation but decided not to pursue it, she had bigger foxes to find.

"Finnick? Is that you?" She asked, almost certain this was the fennec she was looking for but not willing to make assumptions.

"Of course it's me you dumb…woah! What happened to your face?" Replied the small fox as he got close enough to see Judy's face in detail. "Oh sweet maid Marian you got sprayed didn't you!" He exclaimed, recognizing the signs of having just cleaned up after getting hit by the repellent.

"This is just too good!" He burst out laughing, the anger disappearing from his face. "Hang on a moment toot too."

The fox quickly turned around and walked back to his van, laughing all the while. Meanwhile a miffed Judy waited for him to return. This day was turning out to be the most trying day of her life emotionally and she felt like she could snap at any moment. She noticed that Duke Weaselton must have made off with her fox repellent, as she no longer had it on her, which was probably for the better. Between Judy's pain, frustration, anger, sadness, and exhaustion, she wasn't sure if she should even have something which had turned out to be so dangerous.

After waiting on the fennec fox for what felt like forever, but was really only one or two minutes, the fox returned to her.

"Here, you're gonna need one of these." He said, a surprising amount of sympathy in his voice as he held out a paw with what looked like a candy in it.

"What is it?" Judy asked, the empathy in the fox's voice making her curious.

"Medicine for the throat, soothes the burning, stops your voice from becoming like mine." Finnick replied gruffly. "Unless you want to sound like me?"

"No, thank you Finnick." The rabbit officer replied as she took the medicine. She had not expected this level of kindness from the fox, especially after all she was learning about the true interactions between predators and prey. Speaking of which, the chief had remained oddly silent the whole time, Judy thought. Scratch that, he had maintained his customary silence.

These thoughts had caused her to look back at her chief, who had taken up a position behind her, arms crossed, but keeping a polite distance away from the smaller mammals. Noticing her glance, the fennec fox looked over to the chief.

"Chief." He nodded respectfully.

"Fennec." The chief responded.

Pleasantries exchanged and presences acknowledged, Finnick turned back to Judy. "So, what do you know about my boy Nick's disappearance?" He asked her, hoping to locate the fox who he had come to think of as family.

"I was actually going to ask you about that. We believe he may have information on the savage mammals that we need. I wanted to place him under police protection, but he went missing over two weeks ago.

"And?" Snorted out the little fox. He knew when a mammal was being less than honest, and what Judy was telling him? It sounded like excuses.

"And?" Asked Judy, unsure of what it was Finnick was looking for.

"Nick don't need a buncha coppers to protect him. He can do it just fine on his own." While this was true before the press conference, the change in dynamics between predators and prey, as well as Nick's behavior on the last night Finnick had seen him made him suspect that Nick might not be able to take care of himself on his own right now.

"Nevermind. I ain't seen 'im in over two weeks. You'd better find him you hear? I've already seen one dead fox, don't wanna see another one." Finnick knew from the looks on the two prey mammal's faces that this conversation was pointless. He'd be better off looking for Nick in ways that the cops simply weren't capable of.

Having heard Finnick say that he hadn't seen Nick in over two weeks was a blow to Judy, it seemed her one lead was quickly becoming zero leads again. Judy felt her last reserves of emotional stability start to falter, the pain in her face and lungs was not helping things either. Still, she marshalled what was left of her emotional and physical strength to look strong and in control as she tried desperately to salvage some information from this conversation.

"Did Nick say or do anything that might suggest where he went?" Judy asked, barely managing to keep her back and ears straight and the desperation off of her face.

"Nope, he just left. Got a few hidey-holes around the city, I'll check those. You focus on finding him in the locations I can't get to." Replied Finnick. "I'll let you know if I find anything. See ya officer toot toot. Chief." The fennec fox quickly turned around and hustled to his van. He was getting rather worried about Nick, who could usually be seen out and about, or located within less than a day. Nick's favorite phrase "I know everybody" was really just an indicator of how public a mammal he was. It was unlike the fox to have not been seen for more than a day or two.

While Judy watched the little fox leave, still processing that her last hope of finding Nick had been a dead end, chief Bogo opened the door to the police cruiser and then entered in through the driver's side.

"Get in Hopps, we're going back. Then you're going to rest like you promised."

Judy turned slowly back to the police cruiser and trudged up to the door. Not feeling strong enough to jump into the cruiser, she settled for climbing in by using the small mammal steps that could be pulled out from the larger step in the door.

Once she was in the cruiser, the chief reached across her seat and slammed the door shut. Finally out of the public eye, even if she was in front of her stoic chief, Judy allowed her composure to fall. And fall it did. Judy's felt her last reserves of strength give out as she collapsed onto her seat, body curling in on itself, tears once again leaking out of her already aching eyes. Her heart ached, and she couldn't even pin-point the reason why. Judy concluded that she was simply overwhelmed from her day and let herself deal with it the way bunnies usually did. By being emotional.

The chief for his part just sat there and watched as one of his officers broke down in front of him. He let her have this moment to herself as he reasoned that after having spent most of a week searching for her fox friend, then locating a dying fox and mistaking it for him, then getting sprayed by fox repellent, and finally finding nothing but dead ends validated this reaction. All that didn't even scratch the surface of the emotional weight he suspected was truly weighing down on her though.

If chief Bogo was reading his officer correctly, and he usually did, she was currently also trying to deal with having her whole world-view shaken and shattered. Her naïve and innocent beliefs about Zootopia had been ripped away exposing an ugly and festering reality underneath the thin veneer of civility. Chief Bogo knew from his own experiences, and from seeing the same thing in his other officers, usually prey, that Judy would need some time to cope. The experience of discovering that the bright and innocent world you thought you knew was really a façade to a dingy and dark world of casual cruelty and self-interest was an emotionally trying one. Coming to terms with that realization changed most mammals, usually for the worse as they adapted to their new world-views and built up new belief structures. Some mammals were completely destroyed by the experience as their new beliefs about the world were incompatible with their core being, forcing themselves to change who they were to adapt to their newly discovered truths. Chief Bogo hoped that Hopps would not be one such mammal.

"Hopps, I am giving you one month paid leave. You are to take the time to visit family and are not to return until you are fully recovered physically and emotionally. Understood?" He said gently once he noticed that the gut-wrenching sobs of the bunny had been reduced to sniffles.

The bunny's only response was to nod her head, then straighten out in her seat and buckle herself in. Bogo took this as an affirmation and started the cruiser, saddened by his knowledge that the drive back would be made less enjoyable due to the emotionally overwrought bunny beside him. He would have preferred it if she'd gone back to sleep.


	7. Chapter 5(C)

**Author's Notes:**

Whew, that was a rough chapter to write.

I am sorry this one took a week longer than usual. Some personal stuff happened along with an increase in work from my training program. Don't worry, nobody was hurt...too badly.

Anyways, this was also a rough chapter for me to write because it's all part of the last two chapters. It's gone on quite long enough already! I want to write more about Nick! I want to stop writing mopey dopey scenes and get back to the action! But this had to be done.

On the plus side, it is done. I had a few more scenes for the Hopps family that I wanted to get out there, but decided they were best left for flashbacks so that I could continue the story (finally).

Anyways, more Nick and more action from here on out, I promise! Also, the next chapters should still be coming out either once a week or every two weeks again, so look forward to them please!

Copyright disclaimer: You know the drill, no profit, no ownership of Zootopia characters or intellectual property, etc. etc.

Anyways, as usual, please read and review. My soul yearns for your comments and criticisms!

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts**

 **(J)Is there something more / (N)Don't take your eyes off the trigger (Part 3)**

When chief Bogo parked the cruiser in the police department garage with he turned to Judy before getting out of the car.

"One month Hopps, longer if you need it. You have half an hour to prepare your files for the next officer, then you leave." He reminded her.

Judy silently nodded her head at him, the motion didn't even move her ears which were still drooped behind her back. Slowly she opened the cruiser door and took a timid hop out of the car. The chief stayed in his seat as Judy trudged towards the door that led in to the ZPD.

"Thank you chief." Came the whispered words of the broken bunny cop.

The chief sighed to himself. The ZPD was already spread thin, and he was now losing an officer who had more than proven her worth to the team. He knew however that if he wanted to keep her alive and in the ZPD she would need this month to recover from the last week.

Judy for her part, tried to avoid all interactions with the mammals within the ZPD. Eyes still burning, and her face feeling raw, she did not want to have to explain her new fur-cut to any of her fellow officers. Her ears burned at the shame, both of having been caught off guard enough to get sprayed with her own fox repellent and from realizing how ignorant she had been of how horrible the spray really was. She understood now why Nick had been so offended to see that she still carried it around after they solved the missing mammals case. She also understood why he was so upset at seeing her reach for it when he had asked if she thought he might eat her. _Nick believed in me. He trusted me to be better than the other prey mammals who distrusted and abused him. And I betrayed him._

Judy had of course, nothing to do in order to prepare her files for the officer who would be taking over them. She had always been good at keeping the paperwork fully updated in case of emergency. So it wasn't to her desk that she was headed at this moment. Right now she felt that there were only two mammals in the entire ZPD she wanted to speak to. The two mammals in question were Clawhauser and Fangmeyer. Surprisingly, while Judy had known all of the officers in the ZPD by name, she never really had time to become their friend, nor did she feel a particular affiliation with any of them beyond the comradery of being in the ZPD.

Officer Fangmeyer had earned Judy's respect and trust when she had given Judy the map of hospitals she had worked out with Clawhauser. Her stoic nature and silent kindness had made the bunny admire the tiger. Officer Clawhauser had earned her friendship right from the start. His cheery, outgoing, and friendly attitude had made Judy love the ZPD on her first day, and every day after. His fat stature and kindness also made Judy feel completely at ease in his presence, especially since he was visibly upset at having possibly upset Judy after calling her 'cute'.

Judy found herself in the records office and before Clawhauser's desk faster than she had expected. She both needed and dreaded the discussion she was about to have.

"Hey there Clawhauser." She spoke up timidly from in front of his desk.

"Judy? Judy where… Oh there you are!" Clawhauser had been surprised for a moment, not being able to see the tips of Judy's ears which usually signalled that she was in front of his desk. It was only after he had leaned forward, completely resting his weight on top of the desk, that he was able to see her.

"Judy! Oh Em Goodness! What happened to you!? Are you alright? Jump up here and talk to me!" He blurted out, adding the last part as an afterthought as his belly was sending him non-negotiable demands to get off the desk.

He scrambled off of the desk and back into his chair as Judy gave a meek smile and climbed on to the top of Clawhauser's desk. Seeing her up close, he noticed the bloodshot eyes, the ragged breathing, and her furless and enflamed muzzle.

"Wow Judy! Someone really did a number on you. Can I get you anything? Some anti-inflammation cream?"

Judy took in a deep breath, letting the pain in her lungs clear her mind a little before responding.

"No Clawhauser, I'll be fine. I just needed to talk to you." She said smiling meekly at the cheetah.

"Ok, but first, you need to tell me that your face is alright."

"Yeah. It's fine, I'll get to that. I kind of wanted to tell you that I'm leaving. The chief ordered me to take a month long break."

"What?! Why? I mean, Judy you... Well, everyone needs to take a break sometimes, but…you?" The cheetah sputtered off. He knew that Judy loved her job, that to her, the ZPD was her break, her reason to live. Something serious must have happened for the chief to order this.

"Yeah," she gave a raw chuckle " even me. Look, Clawhauser I want to thank you and Fangmeyer for making that map for me. It really helped, even if the mammals at the hospitals didn't. Is Fangmeyer around?" Judy mentally hit herself, she was stalling and she knew it. She really wanted to tell Clawhauser about the last few days, discuss how she was feeling, apologise for…well she didn't know what exactly, for her being a bigoted prey and him being a predator? She knew she had never mistreated Clawhauser but she still felt sorry, almost responsible for the way others were treating him now.

Clawhauser's ears flattened behind his head. "Oh Judy, I thought you knew! Fangmeyer quit the force this morning along with the rest of the predators working in the ZPD. I'm the last predator in the entire department. But that's not why you're here is it?"

"You're right. It's not." Judy sighed again, this was going to be tough. "Look, I've got a lot I want to get off of my chest. Some of it wont make sense, but I need to say it. You've been a good friend, and right now I need a friend to just listen. So even if what I say doesn't make sense, can you promise not to interrupt until I'm done? Promise to just listen?"

"Oh! Oh, of course! Not a word until you finish. Just let me know when!" Exclaimed the cheetah. He recognized that this was not normal Judy behavior and as such it was important that he, as her friend take her more seriously now than ever before. She needed to vent, and he would be here for her.

"Thank you." She whispered, then more loudly. "I haven't ever done this before. Vented to another animal that is. I have lots of siblings that I talked to when things got rough, but they never really cared about what I said. It was more of a physical support system. They were there for me physically and that was all that mattered. Sorry, I'm ranting. Oh! You can speak."

Clawhauser smiled at seeing the rabbit officer get so flustered about a process as simple as venting. "It's ok Judy, nobody practices venting. It's kind of like what you have with your siblings, except I will listen to what you're saying and help you process that side of the problem as well." He said as kindly as he could. Clawhauser was used to being the emotional support of quite a few ZPD officers over the years.

"Thanks. Anyways, I need to first say that I'm so sorry. I really screwed up predator and prey relations during that press conference, and I've seen horrible things because of what I said. At first it was just the signs, the "no chompers", or the "claws, fangs, growling, no service", or the "down with dangerous preds", or the "save us from savages" or the…" Judy hiccupped at just recalling all the horrible hate signs that had cropped up after the press conference. She was stalling, she realized again.

"Anyways, I know that you've suffered because of the anti-pred climate that we have right now, and I feel like I caused it. For that I am so sorry. You can talk."

"Oh Judy, that wasn't you. The anti-predator attitudes were there way before you made that speech. It was just subtler." Comforted the cheetah. "All your speech did was increase what was already there, a fear and distrust of predators. It let mammals feel more justified in acting on their fears. Before your speech prey animals would cross the street so that I wasn't walking behind them. None would feel safe if I walked behind them at night, none would sit on the same park bench as me. Why do you think I got fat? It's reassuring to prey that I'm not a threat."

For a while Judy just gaped open mouthed at Clawhauser. On one hand she was relieved that she hadn't single-handedly ruined predator-prey relations, but on the other hand she was horrified that even Clawhauser had had to suffer the bias and prejudice of prey mammals. It was bad enough that foxes suffered, but the knowledge that all predators suffered even before her speech was bringing fresh tears to her eyes.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" She blurted out, tears of frustration and self-loathing leaking out.

"Nor should you have! You didn't know because those thoughts never occurred to you! You are so much better than that, and everyone can see it! You don't act on bias and prejudice, that's why Nick befriended you, why I am your friend, and why Fangmeyer trusts you." Said Clawhauser, trying to soothe away the tears on the rabbit's face. He always felt horrible having to watch other mammals cry, so much so that he forgot he was supposed to be silent. "Oops, forgot about permission to talk."

"It's ok, let's forget about that. You're obviously better at this than I am." Judy said as Clawhauser's praise lifted her spirits enough to fight back the tears. "Ok I'm sorry, even if it doesn't make sense. I'm sorry, not for what I have done, although I'm sorry for that too! I'm sorry for how you have suffered, if that makes sense."

"It does."

"Anyways, so after I went to all the hospitals, which were no help. Oh wait, I need to tell you! Those hospitals were horrible. None of them bothered to follow any of the standard procedures for Nick! For any other mammal they would have had to take down personal information and contact information, but they didn't even bother trying with Nick. The few who had, let him write obviously false addresses like '123 fake street' and stuff like that. How dumb is that! It's like they thought that because he was a fox, he would lie about everything!"

"Well," chuckled Clawhauser, "he probably would have."

"Yeah," Judy conceded "but not because he was a fox. He lied because he was an orphan with no place to live. Anyways, despite that, he'd done some really good things for some of the animals in some of the hospitals. Like at the one in Little Rodentia, he'd saved rodents from a collapsing building, cutting up his paws in the process, and when he figured out that they needed medicine the hospital didn't have, he got it from Mr. Big personally and delivered it to the hospital!"

"Sounds like a dream." Sighed Clawhauser.

"What?" Judy asked, scrunching her eyes and twitching her nose at the confusing interruption.

"I mean, come on! Roguish fox, living his entire life on the streets with no one to love him, struggling desperately every day to survive. Yet somehow he thrives! Not only that, he manages to do good for other mammals at the same time. Despite being soaked in the prejudice of other mammals every day he is still a good guy! It's practically a classic romance! A modern day Robin-Hood!"

"I don't know about Robin-Hood." Judy said, mentally filing away this new perspective of her fox friend. She did not want to explore that particular thought pattern right now. "Anyways, at Little Rodentia I met up with FruFru who told me Nick lived at an address in Happy Town."

Clawhauser's face got a little squeamish at the mention of his old town. "Judy, please tell me you didn't go there alone!" He practically begged, eyes wide in fear at just imagining what Judy might have experienced there.

"No, the chief ordered me to just observe the border until I could go with him. And while I was doing that, I found a fox who had been trampled and left to die by an elephant! It was so horrible Clawhauser!" She choked out that last part as she fought back her tears at the memories of the broken and dying fox she had thought was Nick. The poor mammal suffered greatly before death. "He… he wasn't… there was nothing we could do to save him. His legs, oh God his legs…" Judy tapered off this time picturing in her mind the legs of the poor fox. The mangled mess of blood, flesh torn open from the broken and powdered bones of his pelvis and upper thighs. The reek of his bowls and bladder having emptied themselves among his final moments, and the whole time the piteous whimpering of the fox, practically begging for release from the pain.

Judy felt a large paw on her back, rubbing slowly. "There there, it's ok. He's not suffering any more. He's in a better place Judy." She shook herself of the mental image, focusing instead on the gentle paw rubbing her back.

"I had to over dose him on tranquilizers to give him some peace before he died. I swear Clawhauser please, please make sure the elephant who did that gets caught!"

"I will Judy, I will make sure the case isn't dropped until the elephant is caught."

"Good." Judy took a deep breath. Already she was feeling better than she had in the car. It felt good just to get her feelings out there, to have someone validate them, and to have a friend back her up. She really loved Clawhauser for how great a friend he was. "Ok, so after that I went with the chief to Nick's old apartment. Turns out the manager had to kick him out because the other mammals were threatening the fox for not having stopped me at the press conference. He seemed sad about it. It was as I was leaving that this…" she gestured to her muzzle, smiling weekly "happened. Duke Weaselton, oh you can't tell the chief this, snagged my fox repellent and sprayed me with it."

At the mention of the fox repellent Clawhauser's paw stopped rubbing Judy's back and he eyed her belt cautiously.

"It's gone Clawhauser, and good riddance. I had no idea it was that horrible! It should be classified as a torture method, not a method of subduing overly aggressive predators! The building manager, Mr. Gussik, was really nice too. He instantly led me to a room where he washed most of it off and shaved my fur for me. The relief was practically instantaneous. He also gave me creams to help soothe and heal my skin."

"Oh Judy! I'm so sorry that happened to you! What about your throat? Here, wait, I think I've still got…" Clawhauser dug around in one of the drawers to his desk and pulled out a lozenge that looked similar to the one Finnick gave her. "this, suck on this and It will help your throat." He finished.

"Yeah, thanks! That's the same one Finnick gave me! He told me Nick came up with it."

"Well, Finnick was the one who told me about it. I've been sneaking one to every mammal who is brought in to the ZPD after having been sprayed."

"Oh Clawhauser, that's amazing! I can't believe you've been doing that for them!"

"We all do our part." He said, shrugging. "Anyways, about Finnick."

"Right, so Finnick wanted to know if I'd heard anything from Nick, which was what I had wanted to ask him. Turns out Finnick has no idea where he is either. After hearing that I, I just kind of shut down. I was completely out of leads to follow, my entire face was burning. I was still emotionally exhausted from witnessing a fox die, and from hating myself for being so ignorant of how much you predators have suffered."

"And how do you feel now?" Clawhauser tentatively prodded. He needed to make sure his friend had gotten everything out.

"Better actually. I mean my face still hurts, and I still hate myself for being so ignorant, and I still have no leads on Nick. But somehow, I feel better. Thanks Clawhauser." Judy smiled. A real smile this time, and even though her ears were still drooping, Clawhauser felt that his friend was in a much better place emotionally now than she had been when she first visited him.

"Any time Judy, you enjoy your break ok?" He said, smiling in hopes of encouraging Judy to smile again.

"I will, I've still got a lot to sort out emotionally and mentally, but this talk really helped. Oh! And make sure you bring that elephant to justice!" She said as she hopped off his desk.

At that moment, Francine the elephant decided to walk into the room. In her hands she had a giant box of elephant sized donuts.

"Clawhauser! I thought you could use some of these to get you through the night!" She said in a falsely happy voice.

"Ooh Francine! You shouldn't have! Thank you!" Clawhauser gushed, tail moving excitedly at the prospect of consuming the donuts through his night shift.

Judy looked to the cheetah in shock and mouthed 'night shift?'. He just shrugged back at her.

"Oh, and Judy, I couldn't help but overhear, what's this about an elephant?"

Clawhauser answered for her. "Oh, you remember Judy's report about the murdered fox last night? It was an elephant who had killed him. Judy just wanted me to make sure the case got solved since the chief is ordering her to go on break."

Francine eyed Judy cautiously, as if weighing her. Judy stared back, defiantly. Judy knew that if Francine, being an elephant herself, wanted to protect a fellow elephant from the ZPD, all she would have to do was kill Judy and Clawhauser right here. As an elephant, Francine probably could, and as an officer, she could probably arrange it to look like Clawhauser had gone savage and attacked Judy before Francine was able to kill him. If Francine had all this in mind, then only Judy's outward appearance of strength and defiance might save her.

Smiling, Francine knelt down on to the ground, then bent down so that her mouth was at Judy's ear.

"Careful Judy." She whispered. "There are many at the ZPD who are far more loyal to their own species than they are to predators, especially right now. There are those who are more loyal to prey, even the bad prey. I know some mammals might try to make that file disappear. But I promise, on my honor as an officer of the ZPD, as an elephant, and as Francine Ivory, I will make sure that elephant is found and brought to justice."

Smiling, Francine leaned back and away from Judy so that she was no longer whispering. "No matter what, you have an ally in me Judy." She said.

"Thanks Francine." Judy said, finally getting over her shock at what she'd just heard, and at the fact that Francine was willing to do this for her. "It means a lot. Anyways, I'd better go let the chief know I'm leaving, this took much longer than the half hour he gave me."

Francine looked at Judy, confusion spreading across her features. "I thought he was just in here with you. He was just leaving the records room when I came down to give Clawhauser the donuts."

"Strange, I guess you don't need to tell him then." Said Clawhauser.

* * *

And so, after an uneventful train ride, accompanied only be her thoughts which were becoming increasingly gloomy as if trying to match the weather, Judy found herself walking home from the train station in the pouring rain. A violent storm was brewing in Bunny Burrow, the wind had started to pick up, the lightning flashes were becoming more frequent, and the rain had just started to come down cold and fast.

Judy's talk with Clawhauser had made her feel much better, but the rain and her thoughts were dragging her back down. There had been so much she hadn't known about the life of a predator. There was probably still so much she didn't know.

She had been arrogant to assume that she, a bunny encouraged to be a police officer by the mammal inclusion program, had had a difficult life. She had thought that because she personally had suffered what she now knew was only a small prejudice against her, that she had it just as rough as predators had. She had thought that because she had overcome the prejudice, on what she thought were her own merits, that others could do the same. That if they didn't do the same, it was because they were not trying or were weak. Because she attributed her successes to herself, the failures of others must be their own fault as well.

Little had she known that despite the prejudice, the system had been set up to encourage her success, even if only as a façade. There was no system to encourage the success of predators, and the prejudice of believing you to be weak, helpless, and cute, was far less harmful to her physical wellbeing than the prejudice of being dangerous and untrustworthy.

So, weighed down by her thoughts and water-logged fur, Judy found herself in front of her parent's house. Initially shaped like a giant carrot, the Hopps family home consisted of a large single story cone coming out of the ground, with a basement level meant for one giant living room. Once inside however, there were many sloped floors extending underground and leading to the bulk of the living area and bedrooms. However, thirty years ago the kitchen area started leaking whenever it rained due to the flat design of the house roof. So under Bonnie's constant insistence, Stu and the older bunnies in the family constructed a domed roof overtop of the carrot shaped house. After that the need for two new grain silos, and an comment from one of the kits at the time led to the silos being used to represent bunny ears, and the front double doors getting painted to look like rabbit teeth, the overhang to look like a nose, and two windows to extend light on to the front yard in the shape of eyes. Now in front of her family's bunny house, Judy knocked on the door to her home.

It was the beautiful bunny Bonnie Hopps who answered the door, dressed in her nightgown and holding a towel.

"Oh. Oh! Oh Judy! You're home!"

"Yeah, I'm home mom." Judy said, smiling awkwardly as she wanted to hug her mother so much, yet realizing that she was soaking wet.

"Come in! Come in and dry off, you're soaking wet hon!" Bonnie said, quickly getting out of the door way so that Judy could walk inside. Bonnie passed Judy the towel and continued. "Now dry yourself off so that I can give you a proper welcome."

Judy took the towel from her mother and dried herself off, trying her best to keep her face hidden the whole time now that she was standing in the light. As soon as she was dried off however, she hugged her mother. Feeling as if she were a leaf in a stream she held on to her mother as if she were a rock in that same stream. Judy just kept hugging, enjoying the warmth and comfort only her mother could provide. As she began to relax, Judy felt herself melt in to the hug and she had to resist the temptation to fall asleep while holding her mother.

A loud bang startled Judy out of her comforting state as the front door was slammed open by particularly strong gust of wind.

"Bonnie! Help me get this door shut before the wind tears up the whole house!" Came Stu's shout from the front doors.

Letting go of Judy Bonnie rushed to help her husband, stopping only long enough to grab the towel as Judy offered it back to her mother. Judy followed at a more relaxed pace, remembering past nights where she and her siblings had all rushed to help their dad keep the doors shut. On stormy nights like this, certain preparations had to be made on the farm. Any crops that could be protected had to be, the animals had to be calmed down, the silo and barn doors and windows had to be secured, and any loose tools left out in the farm had to be securely tied down or brought in to the barn. There was a certain fondness to the memory of those scrambles where the whole family pitched in.

Bonnie and Stu gave one final effort to shut the front door, and as luck would have it the wind stopped just long enough for them to shut the door and lock it. Bonnie took one look at her water soaked husband before throwing him the towel.

"Jumping junipers Stu! You're absolutely soaked! Completely water logged! Here, dry off before you step onto the hardwood."

"Heh, water logged? It's coming down so hard out there I'm practically a water ship!" Stu replied as he literally poured the water out of his ears and into a bucket Bonnie had kept near the door.

"Alright, 'water ship' Stu, hurry up and dry off so we can talk with Judy."

"What? She's on the phone already? What happened?!" Stu exclaimed, suddenly rushing to dry off in his worry for his most risk-taking daughter.

"No, silly, she's here. She just came home."

"Hey dad." Judy said timidly as her mother gave her a surprised look.

Stu for his part, was still towelling down his face. "Oh! You should have told us you were coming home, I would have picked you up. Sorry about that Jude the…" Stu trailed off as he finished towelling his face and looked at his daughter. "duu….what happened to your face!" He yelled, pointing a finger at Judy.

Bonnie too had just seen Judy's new…muzzle-cut but had managed to refrain from commenting on it until her husband had pointed it out.

"Hush Stu, she'll tell us all about it once we're warming up by the fire with hot mugs of carrot tea. Won't you honey?"

"Yes, of course. Tea first though." Judy said, as she moved off into the kitchen to prepare some of her mother's carrot tea. Bonnie hops made the tea herself and it was one of the many things Judy missed about home. The tea had always been not only delicious, but it always managed to relax and calm the Hopps family with its warmth and familiarity.

"Mom, I'll make the tea, can you make sure that there's no bunny hanging out in the living room? I don't think I'm ready to tell the whole family yet."

"Of course dear."

"Oh and dad… water ship, I need you to gather all of your anti-fox things and bring them with you."

"Sure thing Jude!" replied Stu with a slight look of confusion as he glanced at his wife.

Shrugging, the Hopps parents went to work with their assigned duties while they awaited their daughter to make tea and join them in the living room.

Five minutes later, she did just that. Walking into the living room from the doorway to the kitchen that was closest to the kettle station Judy saw her parents had cuddled up side-by-side on one of the biggest couches. In front of them they had moved a small table and in front of that was a lay-z-bunny pulled up for Judy, and a rather sizeable pile of anti-fox tools and gadgets was lying on the floor near Stu's side of the couch.

Walking up to her parents, slowly so as not to spill the tea, Judy gave each of them a mug of her mother's carrot tea before sitting down in the lay-z-bunny with her own mug. After taking a small sip Judy began.

"So, before I tell you the story, I want you to know that I'm going to be telling you the whole story. I know I've already told you parts of it on muzzle-time but there's so much more that I need to tell you. Please wait until I've finished before saying anything."

Steeling herself mentally, Judy launched into her entire story. Beginning with how she first got the Otterton case, through her adventures with Nick, her disastrous press conference, her desperate struggles to keep Zootopia together, her hunt for Nick, and finally, her getting sprayed with the fox-repellent and being given one month off by chief Bogo. Judy found herself mentally thanking Clawhauser as he had already gotten the full story from her once in messy, guilt ridden and emotional outbursts. Having vented to Clawhauser let her tell her parents the full story coherently and without her sobs or tears interrupting.

Having finished her story, she turned to her father.

"That's why I want you to get rid of all of your fox repellents! That stuff is horrible! It causes immense and unnecessary pain, and the callousness with which it is used on predators is disgusting. No predator could ever feel safe near us if we carry _it_ around.

Stu made as if to argue. He could understand where Judy was coming from, but he needed to protect his family, and if it came down to the suffering of a predator or his family, he would choose the predator every time.

"No buts dad! I'm serious! You can keep the taser and other deterrents, but I won't allow you to keep anything that causes senseless pain and suffering." Judy interrupted, having already foreseen her father's objections.

Stu looked sadly at his pile of protective gear, knowing that his daughter was going to make him get rid of a good chunk of it. Picking up a can of fox repellent from the top of the pile he inspected it closely, trying to appear nonchalant.

"Really Jude, I just want to protect you guys. This stuff can't be that bad. I mean, you seem to be alright and you were sprayed just earlier today."

"Trust me dad, it's pretty awful. I'm in a lot more pain than I let on, it really is…"

"ARGHGHG!" Stu yelled as his inspection of the spray nozzle, combined with a small paw slip when he'd heard that his daughter was in pain, led to him spraying himself directly in his face.

Bonnie immediately grabbed the canister from her husband's hand and set it down where it was unlikely to cause any more trouble. In this short amount of time Stu had fallen off the couch and onto the floor, knocking his mug of tea over as he did so. By the time Bonnie turned back to her husband he was rolling around on a soaking wet carpet, hands over his face and yelling.

"My eyes! Oh sweet Roger my eyes! My lungs! It burns! Water ship down! Water ship down! Help me Bon!"

Bonnie for her part turned to Judy while she waited for her husband to stop yelling.

"If I remember you correctly, we must rinse his eyes, shave his fur, wash his face, apply some soothing ointment, and find something for his throat?"

"Yup, that's about it. I'm not sure what Finnick gave me for my throat though." Judy replied, some small amount of embarrassment at what her father had just done showing on her fur-less face.

Once Stu had finished yelling, though only because his throat had become too pained to continue, Bonnie picked him up and guided him to the nearest washroom so that she could clean up her husband. Turning to Judy before they left, Bonnie told her to enjoy her tea and that they'd be right back out once Stu was taken care of. Stu, for his part, whimpered.

Somewhere around twenty minutes later Bonnie and Stu returned to the living room, Stu sporting a new look on his face: red and fur-less. Judy just looked at her father while she sipped her tea and slowly shook her head.

"Alright *cough* I get it, that stuff has to go!" Whispered Stu in his newly hoarse voice. "It'll be gone by the *cough* morning. I promise."

Judy was happy to hear it. She had thought it would take a fair amount of work to convince her father but his self-inflicted spraying seemed to have done the trick. Speaking of which, Judy recalled how awful and hurt she'd felt when she was sprayed and got up to give her father a big hug. Careful to avoid his face, she wrapped her arms around her father and nuzzled into him.

"Thanks dad."

"Any time Jude the *cough* dude. Heh, at least now you're not alone in having a funny-looking face."

"Hey!" Judy exclaimed, giving her dad a light hit on the side. "I'll have you know I walked through the entire ZPD with this face, and not a single mammal laughed!"

"Yes dear, you're very intimidating." Interjected Bonnie before looking at the grandfather clock. "Now, I think it's time we all went to bed, we still have to clean up after the storm tomorrow and we'll need our rest."

The three bunnies left the living room and sought out their own rooms. Bonnie with Stu of course, and Judy left to find the hall for the rooms of bunnies whose names began with the letter 'J'. Two of whom were in considerable pain, and only one of them managing to hide it. Both bunnies were however, looking forward to spending the foreseeable future together.

* * *

Nearly one month later.

The fox was enjoying itself. Over the last month it had been listening to the voice that was not a voice. It had found plentiful food, even where it was not expecting to. The freedom and food had done wondrous things for its health, its fur was sleek and shiny, its muscles lean and rippling just under the surface of its skin. This was a vast improvement from the starved, bruised, battered, and dirty shape it had found itself in when it first came to being. This fox was strong, healthy, an alpha in its prime.

The fox was currently running, revelling in the joy of its speed. It was running for the sheer joy of running, the voice that was not a voice having already found it food for the night, the fox had no need to hunt, while running it sniffed the air, still thirsty for information and whatever new wonders the voice might show it. Sniffing again, something stirred the voice that was not a voice. Only this time, instead of showing it where some new wonder was, it was scared.

Cautiously, the fox slowed and slunk forward, trying to be as stealthy as it could. The voice kept demanding that it run away, but the fox was curious as to what could cause the voice to panic so much. Using the underbrush and the dark cover afforded to it by the night, the fox slunk forward, confident that it would be able to see its quarry before it spotted the fox.

Suddenly the fox was blinded by a bright and unnatural light shining in its face. Shock and pain froze the animal for a moment while it tried to recognize what it was seeing. In front of it stood three massive mammals, with strange looking blue fur that seemed to match the obviously different mammals. One was a cape buffalo; it was the alpha to whom the other two clearly deferred. The other two, which flanked the buffalo were a rhino and a hippo.

The voice that was not a voice screamed. _Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run! Danger! Run!_ But as the fox turned to run, it noticed the mammals were pointing something at it. Instinctively the fox knew it could not turn its back, so it turned sideways instead.

As the fox started to run to the side, keeping its eyes on the enormous mammals, it heard a whistling sound and noticed a small object flying towards it. Leaping into the air, the fox dodged the first projectile. His ears picking up more whistling, his eyes desperately sought for the gleam of a second projectile. Once it was spotted, the fox twisted desperately in the air to dodge the second projectile. The fox heard some indistinguishable grunting from the other mammals. As he landed, the fox continued his sprint, until he heard another whistling sound.

This sound was different, so the projectile must be different, unable to spot it however the fox had to make a move without knowing where to move to. The fox jumped into the air again, as high as it could so that it could get a better look at any more incoming projectiles. As the fox's leap took him closer to the ground, he heard the standard whistling sound and noticed another gleam. Twisting to avoid the shot again, he was unable to right himself properly before hitting the ground. The fox slammed into the ground on his side, and before he could scramble back up and continue running, he felt a small thud and prick hit him on his back.

The fox struggled to get back up, to continue its run, but its muscles were no longer obeying it. For some reason, it could not move. Fear rose within the fox as it watched the three massive mammals approach it. Despite its fear however, the fox was feeling drowsy and only the excess adrenaline was keeping its eyes open. Soon, even the adrenaline wasn't enough and the fox faded from consciousness. The last thing it heard before it blacked out was from the rhino.

"Nice plan chief, who knew you could whistle like that."


	8. Chapter 6(A)

**Author's Notes:**

insert copyright disclaimer here

insert fan notes here

Nope, still not dead yet. I'm just extremely busy and chapters are coming a little slowly as I flesh them out.

This chapter isn't done yet, but is getting too big to be one submission, so I'm breaking it into parts again. Likely three parts.

Hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 6 - Part A**

 **(J)Than what I've been handed / (N)I'm not to blame if your world turns to black**

"…please sir, it's almost been a month. I'm ready to return to the force!" Came Judy's voice through the telephone receiver.

"No."

"But sir…"

"No."

"But I…"

"NO!" Chief Bogo nearly yelled into the telephone he was just barely managing not to crush in his large hoof. "Officer Hopps, I know you want to return to work but I just cannot allow you to do so without a psychiatric assessment first. I need to know that you're fit for duty before you return."

"Oh, is that all? I can get assessed tomorrow back at the precinct! I promise, I'll be perfectly fit for duty!"

Chief Bogo reached over to smack himself in the face with his hoof. He stopped just before he did though as he realized that the action would have crushed the small phone. _I really need to get a larger phone._ He had, fortunately, prepared for his officer's eagerness and was ready with another reason why she could not return to precinct one. Hopefully this reason would keep her away from Zootopia for a few more weeks, or better yet, until the whole savage mammals case was solved.

"Officer Hopps, Even if you were to be found fit for duty, I need you out in the Burrows right now."

"Why is that? The officers here are doing fine? I can be of more use in Zootopia!" Judy responded.

 _Damn. She is so eager for work she already assumed – correctly – that I meant for her to be working at the Burrows._

"Tell me, has the Burrows dealt with even a single savage mammal yet?" Bogo asked, hoping to segue right into his next statement.

"No. Everything's been fine out here sir."

"Exactly! How do you think they'll manage an actual savage?"

"I think they can…." Judy faltered. _Good, the most convincing conclusions are the ones they arrive at themselves._ "They would likely be unprepared and unable to contain the situation, sir."

"Correct. And so, as the officer with the most experience dealing with the savages, I need you to…" The chief left the statement in the air, again, knowing that if Judy proposed it, she would be certain to see it through to the end, no matter how long it took.

"You're asking me to train the entire Burrow precinct?" Judy asked, excitement bubbling through her professional demeanor.

"Exactly. When you've been assessed as fit for duty, you are to report to precinct B to debrief the officers on savage mammals. Once every officer has committed to memory every thing you know, you are to begin training them with proper arrest and detention techniques."

"Thank you chief! I wont let you down! It's just… when you say arrest and detention techniques, I'm too small to perform most of the standard techniques deployed on large savage mammals."

"And so is the rest of precinct B. You're dealing with a new demographic, you will have to invent your own methods." Cautioned chief Bogo

"I will sir, I promise. Precinct B will be fully prepared for any savage mammal situation by the time I'm done!" Judy promised the chief, her voice entirely business now.

"Good. Call me after you've been assessed as fit for duty… and Judy?"

"yes?"

"Don't let me down." Ended the chief as he finally set the phone down on its station.

The chief pinched right between his eyes as his pounding headache started to diminish. He was glad that Judy had so eagerly taken the bait he had offered her. Now he could deal with the fox as he needed to without his own officers getting in the way.

Speaking of the fox – chief Bogo looked at the clock opposite his desk, 8:45 p.m. – it was about time for him to wake up.

* * *

Judy for her part was both excited and upset. An odd mixture of feelings, but not one she was unfamiliar with. After-all, as the first rabbit officer of Zootopia, appointed such while under an affirmative action program, she had experienced the feeling quite a lot. She had often thought that her progress into the academy was strictly based on her own merits, that the affirmative action program hadn't applied to her in a way to artificially boost her scores, but rather, that it had just assisted in combating existing prejudices against rabbits.

Judy had been wrong of course. Her first few days in the academy proved that. While she was on par or better than the other mammals when it came to knowledge, she fell far below the bar when it came to physical abilities. It had been a mortifying experience to learn her own limitations right in front of the same mammals who kept telling her she couldn't do it.

Those failures had elicited the same feelings she held now. Upset at her own failings, her unwillingness to acknowledge them, and the fact that they confirmed the prejudice of the other mammals. Yet those feelings were tempered by the excitement she felt at proving them wrong. She had known that until that point, she had not given her all to the program, and after two months of nothing but training and studying, she was proven correct. After those two months, she could truly say that she had given everything she could, and it showed. She was faster, more prepared, and more capable in the training exercises.

While she had graduated top of her class, she still fell short in some of the physical categories, but at least she had been able to prove that her failings would not be prevent her from being as capable as the other officers.

Now the same challenge was rearing its head. She would have to invent new methods of dealing with savage mammals for the smaller mammals in precinct B. She would have the opportunity to come with better and more mammalian methods of apprehending suspects and savages alike. She would have to be her best.

The excitement however, was tempered by her disappointment. She had wanted to return to Zootopia for two reasons. The first was to be able to return to work and to work on improving relations between predators and prey, to fix her mess. The second reason was Nick.

Judy had called in early asking to return to work because just that afternoon she had received a phone call from Finnick.

The little Fennec fox had managed to track down his red-furred friend so far as his journey to the once beautiful Zanza-bar. The pub had apparently been burned down as an act of retaliation from disgruntled predators. The predators had been recently beaten and abused by frightened prey mammals and when they found out that the pub was run by a pred-prey couple they took offense that one of their own could "fraternize with the enemy".

After talking with Zaffodil and Manerd, Finnick had learned that the last anyone had seen of Nick, he had walked off to the northern border of Zootopia. At least, that's all he knew when he'd called Judy to tell her.

So Judy once again had a lead to the fox who, had become one of the most important mammals in her life. At first for his friendship, then for her need to apologise for destroying that friendship, then for his help with the savage mammals case. Almost one month after her fox-repellent incident and loss of any further leads, she had finally been managing to accept that there were things more important than finding Nick. Only now, finding Nick was once again a real possibility.

So returning to duty in Zootopia had been the best option, she could continue to search while working on keeping the peace and improving predator prey relations as per her job. Unfortunately, it appeared that the ZPD required her work here, in the Burrows.

Judy sighed, she would of course still do her best while on the job to assist the ZPD outpost in the Burrows, but she would spend every day off in Zootopia to continue searching for Nick. Slowly, she stretched from the armchair she was sitting in. She would get some sleep now so that she could start brainstorming new arrest and detention methods early in the morning, and arrive at the nearest psychiatrist's as soon as it opened.

* * *

The chief opened the hidden door behind his desk and walked into the next room. This room had been specially built and used since the precinct one building had been built. Some of his predecessors had used it as a safe house for VIPs, others used it as a panic room, and some of the less moral chiefs had even used it as a private "interrogation" room and holding cell.

As a result, the room felt large, sectioned, and was built to satisfy all three purposes rather well. One half of the room was cozy and warm, with a small kitchen in one corner, and the rest of that half dedicated to a carpeted lounge with seating furniture for all sizes of mammals. The other half of the room, by contrast looked cold, dark, and uninviting. That half of the room was sectioned into a large holding cell, with very special bullet-proof glass providing an observation window into the cell. The cell was lit with sterile white light, had a cement floor, and cement walls. The observation window ended about half-way through the room, and a concrete wall, covered in a wood panel façade continued to the wall with the kitchen. The result was the kitchen and living areas looking warm and inviting, while the cell provided a stark contrast.

What you couldn't see right away however, was what lay behind the cement wall. The door to the cell was positioned so that it hinged on the glass side of the wall, once through that door and behind the wall, one could see the remnants of what used to be the "interrogation" room. The room had another door which then led into the cell, but other than that, it currently lay empty.

Having the different lighting switches for the cell and the living area, combined with the special glass meant that one could simply leave one side of the room dark and the glass would instead act as a mirror. So VIPS would remain unaware of the more sinister purposes for the room. Conversely, a chief could spy on their prisoner by keeping their side of the room dark, and the prisoner's side lit.

Currently, the chief needed this room for two reasons. The first was that it was both secret and private. Few mammals even knew of this secret room behind his office, and only he had the key to enter it. It had been a small struggle to convince the other officers to leave him alone with the fox long enough to get it into the room in secret. The second reason was to keep the fox contained.

Chief Bogo did not know if the fox was savage, or simply wild at this time. He hoped the fox was not savage as he needed to talk to the fox, and he needed to do so in secret.

And so, the chief found himself in the small kitchen, a take-out bag from Bug-Burga in his hoof as he dug out a small cage he had previously hidden under the sink. This cage was used to contain the small rodents when necessary, but would provide the perfect test for whether the fox was savage. The chief nearly smiled at his plan as he took out one burger from the take-out bag and placed it in the small cage. Locking the cage shut, he kept the key in hoof as he opened the door into the interrogation room.

Looking in to the holding cell he noted that the fox appeared to still be sleeping, but based on the dosage of tranquilizer and the fox's weight, it would be waking up within half an hour.

Taking the time to lock the door to the living room behind him, _just in case_ , the chief then opened the door to the holding cell and walked in with the caged food and the key. Keeping his eyes on the sleeping fox, he carefully set down the caged food near its snout and placed the key on top of the cage. The chief then left the cell, locking the door behind him, and walked back into the living area of this secret room.

Preparing himself for what might be a long wait, he picked up the book he was currently reading and settled in to an armchair built for large mammals. Contrary to popular belief, the chief was actually quite the philosopher and he was currently enjoying _The Brothers Karamazov_ by Albert Camellus and was just at Ivan Karamazov's rejection of God when he heard the fox waking up.

Sighing the chief glanced at the top corner of his page to memorize the page number. While he could have bookmarked the page, memorizing the number had been a habit he'd picked up which he believed helped, if just a little, keep his memory sharp. The chief walked over to the control switch near the back wall of the living space and made sure that both the intercom and lights were set to their two-way settings before returning to his armchair to wait.

 _Food. Hunger. Food. Tired. WAKE UP!_ The fox struggled as it pushed against the artificial weight of slumber. _Move! Trapped! Fight! FIGHT! FIGHT! MOVE!_ Panic settled in as the fox discovered it could not move as freely as it was used to, could not move as quickly as it was used to. _Danger._ Something was wrong.

The panic slowly subsided as the fox gained control of its muscles, the whole while no harm had befallen it. As the panic receded the fox's primary thought resurfaced. _Food!_ The fox could smell something delicious, its mouth started salivating as it stared at the contraption in front of it. Seeing what the voice that was not a voice identified as food, and what the fox identified as being the source of the delicious smell, it lunged for the delectable treat. The fox soon found out however, that it could not access the food. Something was in the way. _It's locked up. Food? Yes, caged. Food? Look around._ The fox did as it was bidden, looking around the new area it found itself in. Temporarily dismissing the food as inaccessible, its curiosity caused it to examine its surroundings.

The fox's hunger however, would not be ignored. It had been almost 48 hours since it had last eaten, and its hunger pains and nose kept drawing it back to the source of the delicious smell. _Eat? How?_ It thought at the voice. _It's in a cage, see that door? Look for a key. Key? Yes, small, round….argh! You'll never figure it out! Let me!_ The fox, previously pained only by its hunger, took account of a new pain. The fox's head felt like it was exploding as some new force pushed its way to the surface. The fox curled up on the ground, whimpering as the pain became more and more forceful.

Nick, felt his conscious stir. He needed to eat, he could smell food, and the fox that was controlling his body was unable to get it. He knew he needed his mind to access this food, it was not so simple to obtain that he could rely only on instinct. With a great mental effort, he started trying to assert control over his body again, to force his instinct into the back of his mind so that he could control his body properly. This change in mentality was not an easy one. He had spent almost a month in his instinctual state, allowing only his instinct to control his body, breaking that neural pattern was no easy task. Feeling as though he was planning the greatest con in history he slowly, painstakingly, forced his consciousness to surface.

It felt like he was a mammal waking up from an extremely long slumber. If you add sleep paralysis, depression, and a touch of insanity to the mix. It felt like an eternity of clawing his way up through the dark fog of his own mind. It felt like the desperate struggle to return to life after having been dead. Finally, the smell of food broke the struggle. The fox relinquished control as it knew it had to eat, and only Nick could provide food right now. Nick was back.

Realizing he had been staring at the caged burger for who-knows-how-long, Nick quickly scanned for any object he might recognize as a key. Seeing the object on top of the cage, he snickered to himself. _Dumb fox_ he thought as he reached out to grab the key.

Feeling awkward as he held the small metal object in his paw, he realized that this was the first time he had used his paw to grab something in nearly a month. It felt unnatural, wrong. However, he was able to manipulate the object with one paw enough to turn it around and slot it into the keyhole on the side of the cage facing him. With some mental effort, he twisted the key and opened the door. Nick then licked his lips to clear some of the drool he was certain was beginning to leak out of them as he reached in with his paw and picked up the burger.

Almost reverently he lifted the burger to his lips and just inhaled through his nose. Taking in the full scent of the burger. He realized that this was the epitome of food. This delicious burger, a mixture of all of the correct nutrients for his diet, and all of the flavors he most enjoyed. The deliciously warm smell filling up his nose and bringing tears to his eyes. He was back, he had food, and it wasn't alive.

Nick slowly began to eat the burger, wanting to savor every bite, every flavor, every texture on his tongue, the warmth of the burger, the juice dripping down his chin, everything. Of course, he also remembered previous experiences of near starvation, and recalled what happened when he ate too much too quickly afterwards. This burger was too good to allow it to escape him once he'd eaten it.

So he ate slowly, ensuring he could keep down what he swallowed before taking his next bite, savoring every delicious morsel. So absorbed was he in the burger that he failed to realize that someone was watching him.

When Nick had finished eating the burger he sat back to simply enjoy the feeling of being full and to savor the taste still in his mouth. He noted that his paws and snout were completely covered in grease from the burger, but he didn't care. Feeling the euphoria start to leave him he started to look around from his seated position. He noted a concrete wall with a door in it, a cold concrete floor, the cold white lighting, and that was about it.

"Ok, Let's figure out where I am now." He said aloud.

"OH SO YOU CAN TALK." Boomed a voice throughout the entire cell.

Nick froze. Something about the voice terrified the fox, and it angered him greatly. _Don't let them see that they get to you_. He thought to himself, justifying his refusal to turn and face the voice. He convinced himself that he would first examine his feelings towards the voice, and try to understand why he was so angry at it. In truth, Nick was too terrified to look and the fox was refusing to let him turn around.

So Nick examined his thoughts. He was instinctually terrified of the voice, which made sense, as the fox recalled his capture at the hands of the owner of that voice. His capture also involved two other mammals he was furious at, but why? He examined the memories of the fox closer, recalling the outfits. _One outfit from the chief of police, two from on-duty officers_. It wasn't the outfits, so it must have been the mammals themselves. _One cape buffalo, one rhino, and one hippo._ _Wait, rhino and hippo!_ Nick recalled having watched the very same two mammals, in uniform, beat up and abuse a child who they had been called to help. The memory of police brutality should have shocked him but it didn't. Curious, Nick examined his memories to find out why. After a long while of searching, he found it. His father had died in jail as a result of police brutality.

Nick knew now why he was angry, but not why his anger was directed at this voice in particular. He knew the voice belonged to the chief of police but what else? He only recalled seeing the chief at the press conference where the rabbit officer, Judy, caused a species divide… _oh_. Judy, he remembered the police chief from when he tried to take away her badge.

It was just after they had found Mr. Manchez, who had then gone savage on them. Judy had called for backup, and together they had managed to handcuff the savage jaguar to a bridge in the jungle canopy. Judy had lead them back up to the bridge to show the savage mammal to her chief, only to find that the jaguar had disappeared. After nearly two days without sleep, after her fear and terror, and the dedication she had shown to her job, the chief had demanded her badge.

Nick of course knew why, Judy was a small mammal, and being a police officer sometimes required brute force and strength. It was also a dangerous job, and Judy could have easily gotten herself killed a number of times just based on the two days Nick was with her. Nick understood right away that the chief did not think she was up to the job, that this had been his way of protecting her. But Nick had also seen the determination, dedication, and ingenuity that the rabbit displayed to get what she wanted. Being a police officer meant the world to her, and despite her size she was doing everything she could to excel at her job. Despite the other police officers setting up barriers instead of helping to teach her the job, she was doing amazingly well. And the chief had wanted to crush destroy her.

That was why the voice had infuriated Nick, the police chief was responsible for his father's death, for permitting a speciesist police force to physically abuse innocent mammals, and for trying to destroy the dream of the first mammal who Nick truly believed deserved to be a police officer. Finally understanding his anger, he turned to face the source of the voice, unable to hide the snarl formed on his lips.

Nick saw the buffalo through a solid glass wall, a part of him was angry that the chief of police was protected from him. His time in the wild had made him faster and stronger than he ever was, and he was certain he could catch the police chief off-guard and cause some damage. The smarter part of him knew that the glass protected him from the chief as well, but that was something entirely under the chief's control.

Nick realized that he knew nothing about this situation. He did not know why he was imprisoned, or what the chief's intentions with him were. In a situation like this, it was best to keep silent, hide all the cards in your hand, and wait for the other mammal to speak first. So Nick glowered at the chief, choosing to remain silent until the buffalo spoke first.

"What? Not speaking now fox? That's unusual for you."

Nick responded with silence.

"Come on fox, say something. I need to be sure you're not savage."

"and why should I do anything to help you?" Nick could not stop the response from bubbling up out of him. The anger had provided the fuel, and the words the bullet, so he fired.

"Because I have some things you want." Replied the buffalo, holding up a pair of fox-sized trousers, and a collared Pawaiian shirt.

Nick was glad that the buffalo hadn't tried to grin or smile to reinforce those words. That would have just made him angrier. Nick recognized the offering as one of peace. That the buffalo could use violence to get what he wanted, he was offering something in return instead. But Nick didn't want peace.

Looking down, he also noted that he was currently naked, a fact which strangely didn't bother him as much as it should have.

"I'm fine without those, try again." He responded.

"How about I get you another burger?"

"No thanks."

"A book?"

"Nope."

"I can bring in Judy."

"I'd rather not."

"I'll let you go free!" nearly yelled the buffalo, desperation beginning to strain his voice.

"Ha! You've seen what it's like for predators out there, your force even perpetuates it! Well guess what? It's even worse for a fox! You could feed me horse shit, beat me, insult me, de-claw me, I still wouldn't help you!"

"Damnit fox! What do you want?" Yelled the buffalo. He needed this fox to cooperate with him for his plan to work, but so far it seemed like the fox had a massive chip on his shoulder, and one he was justified in carrying.

"I want your head! I want your job! Not a single one of the mammals in this police force deserve their positions except maybe Judy Hopps! I want Zootopia to stop treating predators as second-class citizens! I want people to stop judging me for simply being a fox! I want all those who cause needless suffering to predators because of their bigoted ways to be forced to spend just one day as a fox in this god-forsaken city! I want my father back! I want justice! And I want revenge."

The last sentence came out as a whisper. Nick hadn't realized that a part of him really did want revenge. It wasn't enough to bring things back to normal, to restore the status quo. It wasn't even enough to make all mammals truly equal. Nick actually wanted prey to suffer the way he had suffered, wanted them to learn what true suffering was like. This part of him scared him. He had thought himself better than that, had judged other mammals as petty for wanting vengeance. Turns out he was just as petty.

"But since you can't do any of that, let's start with something you can do. I want my name."

The police chief stood silent for a moment, allowing this information to digest. He knew this wouldn't be the end of the fox's anger or demands, but it was a start.

"And what is your name?" He asked, even though he already knew.

"My name is Nicholas Piberius Wilde. Son of John Piberius Wilde."

The police chief gulped. He remembered John. Bogo had been a junior officer at the time and had really liked John. The fox had been kind and generous, affable and talkative, intelligent and wise. It had been a true joy to make his rounds and converse with John and the prisoners he had befriended. Bogo had seen the first signs of pneumonia overtaking John and had pled desperately with his commanding officers to get treatment for the fox. His officers just scowled and claimed there was no point in taking extra expenses for a fox. He was probably faking it and if he wasn't, who would miss him? In the end, Bogo had been the one to find the John's body and deliver it to the coroner.

Bogo had taken it upon himself to inform John's widow of his death, and had seen the distraught vixen's reaction to the news, her desperation and fear of being unable to provide for her son without him. It was these events that had convinced him to dedicate himself to the police force, to become the chief of police, and to slowly change the inner composition and workings of the ZPD to ensure a fairer and more just enforcement of the law.

Understanding why Nicholas had given his name that way, and beginning to understand where part of his anger came from, the police chief responded the only way he could think of.

"I'm truly very sorry. John was an amazing animal, it was cruel and unfair for the ZPD to take him from you like that." He said, trying to convey his feelings and sadness at the loss of the great mammal.

Nicholas however, wasn't buying it. It seemed that all of the anger, hatred, and resentment he'd hidden his entire life was surfacing, and it was determined to either be dealt with now, or to consume him entirely.

"Tell me what it is you want from me, and why you think I would give it to you, and then I'll name my price." He snarled out, the memories of finding out about the death of his father playing out in his mind. These memories were soon followed by those of seeing his mother dead on the floor of his home, chemical vomit spilling from her mouth from the overdose of medication she had taken.

The chief cleared his throat, if Nicholas wanted to talk business, they would talk business.

"Nicholas, Judy has told me that you may be able to help us with the investigation of the savage mammals. She spoke highly of your observational skills, intelligence, and knowledge of Zootopia. With your help we could put an end to this outbreak of savage mammals and perhaps restore relations between predators and prey. You would be helping to save Zootopia."

"I don't care." Snarled out Nick.

"What?" asked the chief, taken aback. He had read all of Judy's reports on the fox, he knew the fox had a knack for helping mammals in need, whether they were predators or prey. Despite the prejudice against him, Nick had been a mammal determined to help.

"You heard me. I don't care if your precious Zootopia burns to the ground. Let the predators continue to go savage. Let them continue to attack prey, God knows you prey have been attacking us predators since Zootopia was created. Hell, I HOPE predator and prey relations break down. I hope it gets so bad that the predators stop hoping for co-existence and finally decided to go to war with you bigoted cowards! Zootopia has needed a revolution for a long time, perhaps now we'll finally get one."

The chief struggled to bite back his own anger. He knew that it was Nicholas' emotions that were talking. All evidence pointed towards Nick being a mammal who cared, it must just be his anger clouding his judgement and making him say such things.

"I know you don't mean that Nick. If we were to have a war, how many mammals would die? Judy? Finnick? Those rodents you saved in Little Rodentia? That beaver cub you saved from drowning last spring? Mr. Otterton? Nangi? Flash? Kevin? Raymond? Fru-Fru? Leodore? Manerd? Zaffodil?"

Nick was visibly taken aback. That the chief of police knew about so many of the mammals he had come to care for or helped was shocking. So much so that it blasted his anger away, clearing a space in his emotions for Nick to examine the consequences of a civil war to those he cared about. Finnick and Judy would be on opposite sides, both would probably die. Manerd and Zaffodil would probably be torn apart from each other, or killed along with the other pred-prey couples he knew. Raymond and Kevin would be turned into killing machines for one side or the other, depending on how Mr. Bigs felt. It would be a truly horrible future.

"You still deserve it." He muttered, feeling like an obstinant child.

"We do. But damnit Nick! I am so close! So close to being able to change Zootopia from the inside. I cherished every moment I had with your father. He helped me come up with this plan! He gave me the right contacts, the right methods, and taught me how to talk to mammals depending on their views. Now that I am chief, the ZPD was on the verge of a complete remaking until the savage mammals case and the press conference! I can still do it! I can still remake the ZPD, but I need this dealt with first!"

Nick looked into the bufallo's eyes and saw sincerity in them. He examined the bufallo's words and knew that they were jumbled and not entirely sensible to anyone who didn't have the bufallo's knowledge and experiences. That speech must have been emotional to the buffalo, and thus was more likely to be true. At least, it was more likely to be true regarding the things the chief had personally experienced. His conclusions from the experiences could be completely misguided, but knowing that the chief knew his father, and that they had planned...whatever it was, Nick doubted it.

"Fine. I will help you. But I want my freedom, I want a full pardon for any past crimes, and I don't want Judy to know about this."

"Don't you want these too, Nick?" Said the chief, once again lifting up the clothes in his hoof. A genuine smile forming on his face as he teased the fox.

"And get me some damned clothes. It's cold in here." Nick said, pretending he didn't hear the chief.


	9. Chapter 6(B)

**Author's Notes:**

Sorry for the delay everyone. As I stated in a review, I'm not abandoning this fic, just extremely busy right now.

To be honest, this chapter isn't as good as I want it to be, but I couldn't justify making you all wait even longer while I sorted out how I wanted to present the story. So this is what you get.

Maybe one day when the story is done I'll revisit and rewrite these chapters.

Anyways, please imagine a copyright disclaimer here.

And please enjoy the flashback-ception, it's not too hard to keep straight.

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 6 - Part B**

 **(J)Than what I've been handed / (N)I'm not to blame if your world turns to black**

As soon as the big buffalo disappeared Nick began to visibly relax. The fur on his hackles fell back onto his shoulders, his ears popped back up from their angled back position, and the muscles in his snout started to relax. Chief Bogo was the mammal who needed Nick's help, so much so that he might be willing to lie to him to get it. Oh, and he was both large and intimidating, the fox didn't like that at all.

Nick knew the chief couldn't really promise a full pardon for past crimes. That was not one of the powers that the Zootopia Law Enforcement Act granted to the chief of police. Nick had made that demand as a test of the police chief's willingness to lie to Nick. If the chief had said he would grant a pardon, Nick would have to be extremely careful around the chief and not trust a word that he said.

A loud clanging sound scared Nick out of his musings. Looking up he suddenly jumped onto all fours, fur raised, tail tucked between his legs, ears pressed flat back against his skull, and snarl on his face. Right in front of him was the hulking chief of police, carrying a small pile of clothes and a smirk on his face.

"Here you go. Get yourself civilized." Said chief Bogo as he threw the clothes onto the still-tense fox. The fox visibly flinched as the clothes landed on his back. Turning to leave he shot at the fox. "I can't grant you a full pardon, you know that. But I can choose whether or not to lay charges against you for your actions. So far, you haven't done anything worth charging you for."

"Do that, and give me my freedom and I will try to help you." Nick snarled back, not bothering to move or even brush the clothes off of his back. "Fair warning though, I want everything you have regarding the savage mammals. Everything! And the newspaper archives for at least two different newspapers on every day leading up to each of the attacks."

"Done. It will take me some time to gather everything. I will be back tomorrow night. Until then, stay here. There are some things you need to know before you leave this room."

Nick watched through the glass wall of his cell as the chief of police left the room. "Not like I have a choice." He muttered to himself. It was then that he noticed that the chief of police did not even close his cell door after leaving, much less lock it.

Despite his fears and anger, despite the fox demanding caution around the chief of police, Nick felt himself smile. The chief might just be a mammal worth working with after all.

* * *

Once in his office, the chief felt a small smile form on his lips. The fox had some serious issues that he needed to work out, but despite those issues and the prejudice he had faced all his life from Zootopians, it seemed that Nick was willing to help Zootopia after all.

* * *

Judy didn't hear anything, didn't see anything, didn't smell anything. Despite this, she knew that she had woken up when the sounds of the country-side drifted to her ears. A cricket chirrup here, a bit of bird-song there, the sizzling of the frying pan... _The frying pan!_

Judy jolted out of bed, remembering that today was the day she would be back on the force. She had her psychiatric assessment scheduled for 7:00 a.m. sharp and she just knew she would be found fit for duty.

Not wanting to seem presumptuous, or to mislead the public by dressing up in her police uniform before she had clearance to return to work, Judy went to her closet to pick out her outfit for the morning. She eventually decided on a cream-colored sundress with a conservative neck-line and a carrot motif, and matching sunhat. One of the things Judy learned from her struggles to join the police academy, was that, like it or not, mammals judged you based on your looks. If she wanted the psychiatrist to think she was in good mental condition, she had to look the part.

Fully dressed, teeth brushed, and fur combed and oiled, Judy left her room and headed in the direction of the kitchen. She would have to head up a flight of stairs before she reached the kitchen, but she was certain she could hear the sound of food sizzling in the frying pan, and her nose detected a hint of carrot.

Entering the kitchen, Judy had expected to see her mother cleaning up after the morning's ritual breakfast catastrophe and cooking something for herself. Instead, Judy was surprised to see her mother sitting at the table drinking carrot coffee while a lanky fox was cooking carrot pancakes over the stovetop.

The fox was a red fox who was wearing baggy plaid clothes, giving the impression of having recently lost a lot of weight. The fur was also fairly unkempt, and lacked the luster and shine Judy had come to associate with red foxes from Zootopia. Despite his appearance, the fox looked genuinely happy to be cooking breakfast for the Hopps family.

Despite the fox's look of happiness, Judy had to repress a shudder when her gaze fell upon the fox's neck, for fastened around his neck with a leather and metal thong was an ugly metal box. It was one of Zootopia's newest tame collars. Judy recalled the night Gideon returned to them with the horrible new accessory.

\- Flashback -

Judy had been working with her father on tractor number three of the Hopps' farm. It appeared to not be retaining the gas properly and she and her father had almost discovered the location of the leak. The tractor had been out of commission for a week but as Judy and her father were still missing fur on their faces, they felt it was best to wait until the fur had grown back enough to protect their skin and eyes.

The day after Judy had returned home, she had been shocked to learn that her old child-hood acquaintance and tormentor, Gideon Grey, had been working together with her parents. Thanks to her berating her parents for their prejudice against foxes just before she left for Zootopia, her parents had decided to give Gideon a second chance with the family almost a week after she had left for Zootopia.

Her parents and had taken him on as extra help in delivering produce to Zootopia as he was less afraid of the large city and large mammals than almost all of the Hopps family. He was also large enough to carry the heavy crates on his own, whereas it would have taken two or three members of the Hopps family to move one crate. Gideon himself had also proposed that as a nocturnal mammal, he could make the long drive to Zootopia over-night and arrive on time to deliver the produce first thing in the morning before driving back to the Hopps' farm.

Overall, it was an extremely profitable relationship and the Hopps family had learned to trust and love the earnest fox. When they had discovered he had both a love, and affinity for the creation of baked goods, it was simply icing on the carrot-cake.

As such, Judy and her father were working in the barn after sun-down about eight days after she had returned home. Her father had just told her how worried he was that Gideon wasn't back yet from the day's deliveries, as he was normally back at the farm by lunch time. It was at this point that they noticed a pair of headlights approach the barn.

Quickly walking out of the barn to check on their visitor, Judy and her father noticed that it was their truck, with Gideon in the driver's seat. One look at his face told them that something was horribly wrong.

Gideon, for his part, was doing his best to hold back his tears. He had been crying intermittently before and during the drive back to the Hopps' farm. So when he finally stepped out of the truck, Judy could clearly see the redness of his eyes, the salt-stained streaks in his fur, and a strange device strapped to his neck.

"Gideon! What happened?!" She almost yelled, panic beginning to rise in her chest. She had never seen the fox this distraught.

In a country accent stronger than any found in the Hopps family, Gideon responded.

"I, I'm alright Judy." He stuttered.

Judy, didn't believe it for a second, and posture said as much. She levelled Gideon with a glare, one ear bent over to match her raised eyebrow. Her hands went straight to her hips which cocked slightly to one side, as if to say 'you're not fooling anyone'.

"Alright, alright, I'm not alright. But before I say anything we have to get the produce off of this truck and inta storage. I'm sorry Mr. Hopps, I wasn't able to sell any of it." The last bit was directed towards Stu, who had come to stand just slightly behind Judy and off to the side. Stu's jaw dropped as he looked into the truck and found that not a single one of the orders for the day had been delivered.

"O.k. Gideon, it's O.k. I'll get the kids to unload this. In the meantime, why don't you come in and tell us what happened over a pot of carrot tea and honey cakes?"

"That'd be real…swell Mr. Hopps." Replied Gideon, his throat catching and tears beginning to form in his eyes again.

…

And so, Judy found herself seated at the kitchen table sipping carrot tea while Gideon told his story. Judy, her father, and her mother were all there to listen, with her mother surprising Judy by sitting beside Gideon and giving him gentle back rubs to keep him calm.

"Alright Gid," Stu started off, "why don't you tell us what happened? Starting with when you left our place last night." Stu tentatively smiled, hoping to entice the story out from the distraught fox.

While both Stu and Bonnie's ears were laid against their back in sympathy for the crying canid in front, Judy's were perked straight up. She wanted to hear every word of what happened so that she would know what had to be done to make it right. She was also extremely curious about the new choker and the device attached to it.

"Right. I can… I can do that." Said Gideon quietly. After a few more deep breaths, back rubs from Bonnie, and sips of carrot tea, he seemed to visibly collect himself. Looking up and straight at Stu he continued. "I left the farm right after I got everything loaded into the truck. It was a nice night out, quiet. You could hear the crickets chirpin' and e'rything. Nothing bad happened until I got to the Zootopia border." Gideon visibly shuddered and took another sip of carrot tea.

At this point Bonnie gave Stu a knowing look. Unlike the others at the table, she had kept up with the Zootopian news stations throughout the savage mammal crisis. After all, her daughter was directly involved, and even after Judy returned home, Bonnie knew she would go right back onto the force and in the face of danger as soon as she was able to. So Bonnie had a suspicion of what was going to be said next, and why Gideon was wearing a Tame collar.

Stu, for his part, didn't need the look to tell him that this was a distressing part of Gideon's tale. He could read the fox's emotions as if they were written on his sleeve. What Stu did need the look to do was to remind him to suppress his curiosity. He had just been about to ask Gideon to elaborate when he noticed his wife's look. He wisely decided to remain quiet.

"Right, so at the border they said, they said 'We can't let the likes of you in to Zootopia without one o' these.' I asked 'what do ya mean likes of me? And what are those?' and they said 'carnies, predators, potential savages, in other words… you. As for these, they're called Tame collars, they'll stop you from going savage.' So's I said 'look, I just wanna deliver this produce for the Hopps, can't ya just let me in without one o' those collars?' an' they said 'nope, 's regulations now.' An' then this huge elephant comes stomping out of the border guard station and lumbers over to the car." Gideon stopped speaking as he tried to stop imagining the sheer size and aggression of the elephant as it approached.

Judy, for her part was also fighting memories. The luck of pure terror and pain in Gideon's eyes as well as the image of him being approached by an aggressive elephant was bringing back memories of her time in the field. Particularly the time she found and had to put down the mangled fox. Judy found that the best method of dealing with her now queasy stomach was to remember all of her pleasant memories with Francine. In particular, she forced herself to remember the conversation with Francine in the records room where the elephant promised to seek justice for the deceased fox.

Judy was so busy controlling her own memories and emotions that she didn't even notice Gideon had continued his story. "…so I get out o' the truck and hold as still as I can, and the elephant just clamps this thing around my neck. At first I don' think nothing of it, but that changed pretty quickly." Gideon grimaced as he recalled a painful memory.

"It's ok, honey, you're with us now. We won't hurt you." Comforted Bonnie as she began to rub his back again.

"I know, I know, it's just, it was so bad in there! Even though it was dark out, I could clearly read the signs. 'No carnies allowed', 'predators are not to gather in groups of more than 3', 'baring fangs is a punishable offense' and other such mean things. An' all the predators I saw were wearing these collars, an' they just looked so sad." Gideon trailed off for a moment, and Judy used it to interrupt.

"Hold on, you said that there were publicly posted signs with such hate speech as 'no carnies allowed' on them? Were mammals actually refusing service to predators on the basis of their species?"

"Yup." Said Gideon with a grimace. "An' worse, there was taunting an' insultin', some o' the smaller mammals threw stones until the predators would walk away. An' worse still was what I could make out in the back allies. Young prey mammals were hittin' and insultin' and stalkin' predators like they were trying to make them get angry or attack. But the predators did nothin' they just kept tryin' to hurry away."

"That's illegal!" Exclaimed Judy in shock. "It breaks the Zootopian Charter which prohibits discrimination of any mammal on the basis of species!"

"Not quite dear." Interjected Bonnie, after giving a sympathetic glance at Gideon she continued "while the Charter does prevent discrimination on the basis of species, it does not prevent discriminatory actions taken to the benefit of historically marginalized species. This includes all prey species, and courts have ruled in the past that actions barring service or entry to certain species in order to promote a feeling of safety, or to provide a benefit to any marginalized species is perfectly legal."

"That's just barbaric!" Exclaimed Stu, "there are way more prey mammals than predators, and we haven't been marginalized for generations!"

"That may be, but you can't deny that many prey still feel threatened or oppressed by predators, regardless of whether it's true or not. Even you were worried about foxes until Judy taught us otherwise." Bonnie countered to Stu's chagrin.

Gideon was happy to stay silent during this exchange. He didn't know or care much for politics, or laws. Just so long as he didn't harm anyone and he tried to make an honest living, it didn't matter to him what the brainy mammals did. So, Gideon kept quiet and just let the rabbits surrounding him discuss this new development, content to delay his story for the moment.

"That reminds me dad" Judy said curiously as she turned to her father. "What made you change your mind about Gideon, I know you've hired him, but he spends even more time here than at home. The whole family seems to love him, and rightly so, but what made you change your mind?"

Stu sighed, yet another moment he was not proud of, brought into the light. At least he would get a chance to explain, and hopefully make up for his past mistakes. "Well Jude, that's a long story. But it begins with just after you left for Zootopia." Stu took a sip of carrot juice while he thought about how to continue. "Right, after you left, I turned to your mother and asked her why you were so eager to protect Gideon. No offense Gid, but you had bullied her quite a bit growing up."

"It's fine Mr. Hopps, I was a right little monster growing up. I truly regret what I've done and who I was, but thanks to you and Mrs. Hopps, I'm better now." Gideon responded, and while his ears were flat against his head and his tail dragging in shame, his eyes shone with no small measure of pride and determination.

"So, continuing, your mother told me about a conversation she had with you when she was bandaging your scratch from Gideon. She said you'd asked her why Gideon was such a bully." Gideon sunk a little lower into his chair.

"It's ok Gideon, we're past that. We love you for who you are now, it would be stupid to deny that because we dislike what who you were in the past. You're a wonderful mammal now, one that we are proud to call family." Bonnie interjected, trying to comfort the quickly saddening fox. Not only did she want to keep Gideon's spirits up so that he would continue his story later on, but she also felt compassion for the fox and didn't want him feeling any more depressed about who he once was.

Turning to Judy, Bonie continued "so I told your father that I told you 'there are two types of mammals that you have to watch out for'…"

"mammals who are never given any attention, and mammals who are never given any love." Judy whispered quietly. That discussion had seared its way into her mind ever since that night.

\- Flashback -

"Mammals who are never given any attention act out in any way they can to get others to acknowledge them, even if it's bad attention." Bonnie admonished Judy. "Does Gideon ever get any good attention from his classmates or teachers?"

"No." young Judy responded "In fact, everyone ignores him unless it's to tell him off for being mean or stupid."

"So if every time he does something mean or stupid, he gets attention, is that not just reinforcing his behavior?"

"No! Because it's always bad attention! I would never want mammals to call me mean or stupid!" Judy replied angrily. She couldn't understand how any mammal would want that kind of attention.

"Judy, you're thinking about this as if he has the same life you do. You don't want bad attention because you have ways of getting good attention. You have a family who loves you, friends who enjoy spending time with you, and teachers who are proud of you. Does Gideon have any of that?"

"No…" Judy whispered as her eyes widened in realization. Her ears sank down over her back in sadness as she compared her life to what she knew of Gideon's. "I don't think he has a family mom, I've never seen either of his parents, and the only thing he does with anyone else is be a bully, and teacher never acknowledges anything good that he does."

"Exactly. So imagine you were Gideon and that no matter what you did, nobody acknowledged anything good you did. What if, even worse, they ignored everything you did if it wasn't bad? What if they made it clear that your life doesn't matter to them?"

"I would be sad." Judy said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I'd want to hit mammals, to make them notice me, that I exist."

"Exactly. And what if when you hit another mammal, suddenly everyone did notice you existed? What if hitting other mammals was the only way to get them to acknowledge you at all?"

"Then I would hit them." Judy whispered, not liking where she found her imaginary self. Alone, with no one to be her friend, or appreciate anything she did, she would turn into a sad and horrible mammal just to force others to acknowledge her.

"Even if that only got you bad attention, punishments, and scoldings?"

"Yes! Even then." Judy was fully crying now, as she connected her imaginary self to Gideon. In Judy's mind Gideon's lived a life alone and isolated, with no friends or family, or anyone to care for him. "Oh mom, that's horrible! I have to do something! How can I help?"

Bonnie sighed and smiled, so proud of her daughter. "You turn things on their head. When he's bad you ignore him, unless he's bullying others. When he's good, you praise him, give him attention for doing good things, and try to make sure other mammals do the same. Eventually he'll learn that he can get good attention, and that being bad will leave him with less attention than being good."

"But what if that doesn't work? What if nobody else pays attention or becomes his friend?" Judy asked as she began wiping away her tears.

"Judy, remember how I said there are two types of mammals you should watch out for? The first is Gideon, a mammal without anyone to pay attention to him. The second type is a mammal without anyone to love them. Mammals deprived of love are dangerous, they learn to love only themselves, whether they are good or bad. They learn that only their opinion of themselves matters, and so they don't care about other mammal's opinions. They cannot be controlled by notions of good or evil, because they were forced to love themselves unconditionally, even the evil parts of them. Once they reach the stage of being sustained only by their own love and have no need for the love of another, they become very dangerous. Is Gideon one of those mammals?"

Judy thought about it. Did Gideon act as if he didn't need any other mammal's love? He certainly acted in ways to drive other mammals away from him. But he also did his very best to keep his weasel friend around. No, Gideon still needed the love of others, he just didn't know how to get it.

"No. Gideon still wants the love of other mammals. But his only friend is just as mean as he is."

"Then you will have to be his friend. You clearly care for him. Don't just tell him that, but show him. Show him that others do care about him, and that if he's good, others will love him for who he is. Show him how to be good."

And so Judy spent the rest of her time in elementary school trying to show Gideon that she cared, that others cared, and how to be good and gain more friends. It was slow work, but eventually other mammals started to imitate Judy and talk to Gideon. By the end of elementary, Gideon had his own friend group, separate from Judy and hers, and while he still had some bad habits. He was essentially a reformed fox.

* * *

Bonnie finished her story, and Stu continued after wiping away a tear from his eyes. "After hearing that from your mother, I realized that I had been completely missed the changing relationship between you and Gideon. I had to take a step back and really look at the mammal he had become. I asked some of the townsfolk about him during deliveries to get an opinion from clear eyes. I learned that he was now a respected member of the community…and that he hadn't had a parent since he was five years old."

"And that's all it took!" Bonnie exclaimed, looking up with pride at Gideon beside her. "We basically adopted him."

"I'm really grateful for it too Mr. and Mrs. Hopps. I still have the house my parents left me, but I much prefer it here with all the company around." Said Gideon as he looked at Judy. "Sorry I haven' told ya yet, but I'm basically part o' yer family now. Heck, I even started enjoying carrot tea!" Gideon smiled at Judy, pure joy showing on his face, the soft thumping of his tail could be heard in the quiet night.

"I'm glad for you Gid, really. I'm really impressed with how you turned your life around." Judy said as she beamed at her first fox friend.

"Yup! Not like that matters anymore though." Gideon said as he remembered the reason for this discussion.

The three rabbits just stared at him quietly, understanding that this was Gideon's attempt at segueing back into his story.

"I had a nap in the truck after I arrived in Zootopia as there weren' any businesses open yet to deliver the produce. But when they started opening I went to Bob's Bakery first with my delivery of fresh pies. Now, for some reason, Bob didn't answer the door and instead it was this little ewe who opened it. When she did, her eyes got huge with terror an' she screamed. I tried to tell her I was just deliverin' pies but she didn' hear me and kept screamin' until some police mammals came by. O' course, they come by an' see me right at the door and a little ewe screaming her lungs out from inside. Suddenly, I feel this pain on my neck, like a blunt THUMP-THUMP! All o' my muscles locked right up and I fell to the floor an' everythin' turned black. When I came to, I could feel each muscle twitching like crazy, but I couldn't move or control them. It was terrifyin'! After a while one o' the officers wiped some o' the pie off my eyes, an' I see Bob talkin' with the other officer. My muscles had calmed down a bit, but I was still shaky and twitchin' so the officer offers me an elephant hoof to help me up."

Again, Gideon had to pause to shudder and let himself calm down. This time Judy had an inkling of what the collar around his neck was for.

"So I ask the officer what happened, an' she explains to me that they heard the ewe screaming an' thought I was going savage on her. So her partner activated my Tame collar which shocked me. She also explained tha' the ewe's screaming must have set it off just before he activated it because I got a double dose, which is what knocked me out. Anyways, so Bob comes over and tells me he's sorry but I can't deliver to his store anymore, there's too many mammals afraid o' my kind. I was pretty shocked…heh, shocked… about it. I asked the officer if he could do that, an' she nodded an' said it was probably best if I don' come back to Zootopia for a while."

Gideon absently pulled at his collar while he thought of the best way to say what happened next. Eventually he decided to just go for it. "So I left. Sorry Mr. Hopps, I just didn' want to repeat what happened at the bakery at any o' the other shops."

"That's perfectly understandable Gideon, I would have done the same thing if I were you." Hissed Stu through clenched teeth. Gideon flinched back at the anger in Stu's voice. Realizing that he had frightened the fox, Stu corrected himself "I'm not made at you Gideon. I'm mad at the way you were treated. Please continue."

"O.k." said Gideon timidly. "So I get to the border an' I says 'I'm leaving Zootopia now, can I get this collar taken off?' an' they says 'Nope, you have to keep it on until the mayor says predators don't need them anymore.' An' I was like 'that can't be right, ain' there a law against that?' an' they says 'Mayor legislated it herself, all predators must wear a Tame collar while within Zootopian borders. An' technically, Bunnyburrow is part o' Zootopia. So nope, you gotta wear it.' So not wanting to get into any more trouble, I just quietly thanked the man an' drove home."

Gideon looked at the table top in shame and sadness, he didn't want to see the judgement of the three bunnies around him. However, of the three pairs of eyes not staring at the table, not a single one held judgment or contempt for the fox, and not a single one was dry.


	10. Chapter 6(C)

**A.N.:**

Hey everyone! Sorry, I am still not dead, and luckily, neither is this fic!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Mine was extremely busy (which is why this took so long).

Unfortunately, I'm working full time now, as well as studying for my bar exam, so that's even less time for writing. I'll still do my best to get you guys at least one or two chapters a month.

As usual, please rate and review, any and all comments and criticisms are welcome, including grammar and spelling corrections. I do want to get better after all.

Also, please let me know which styles of my writing you like, or if there's a preferred style. I'm not too happy with the style of Nick's chapter.

Disclaimer: Copyright for all Zootopia characters is owned by Disney, I own my own characters, etc. etc.. I have no idea who owns Jack Savage, but he's mine now, so deal with it.

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 6 - Part C**

 **J: Than what I've been handed / N: I'm not to blame if your world turns to black**

Nick waited for a few moments while he stared at the open door to his… _cell? Not quite…whatever, I'll call it a cell for now._ He didn't want to have the police chief return and say that leaving the door open was a mistake. If that happened Nick knew he would feel like a fool.

While he waited for the police chief to return, he gave himself a quick sniff. _Whew! I certainly smell like I've been out in the wild for a long time!_ Peeking through the open door he noticed that it led into a smaller room. This room also had cement walls and was lit with sterile lighting. _Strange, I imagine there's another door to get into the main room from there._

After a few moments and no return of the big buffalo, Nick's curiosity got the better of him. Leaving the pile of clothes on the floor he slipped in to the adjacent room and looked around. The room itself was pretty Spartan, there were no decorations, the walls and floor appeared to be made of cement. Nick noticed that the floor sloped into a drain built in to the center. In one corner sat an adjustable toilet, and beside it were three bars built in to the wall at heights designed for small, medium, and large mammals. Turning to his right, Nick noticed a second door built in to the wall, which he assumed led into the room beyond the glass wall of his cell. Further along that same wall, he noted a faucet with a hose and shower attachment. _I guess this is meant to be my bathroom._ _I'm digging the medieval vibe._ Nick noted sarcastically to himself.

Nick took a few moments to decide on whether he was going to wash up or not. On one hand, he did smell badly enough for it to even bother him, but on the other hand, he wasn't quite sure about whether he was allowed to even be in this room. Staring at the toilet, he decided that it had to be intended for him to be in this room as otherwise he wouldn't have anywhere to relieve himself in just his cell.

Thus, coming to the conclusion that he could and should wash up, Nick grabbed the shower head and turned on the faucet. Holding his paw under the stream of water he adjusted the tap until warm water was streaming out of the head. With a small shiver Nick proceeded to maneuver the head around his body to rinse himself off. Once done, he looked around for a bottle of soap to use to really clean his fur. Seeing none, he cursed to himself and decided on just having an extra long rinse to try and get as clean as possible. It was as he was mentally cursing his captors for their lack of soap that he realized that he hadn't seen a towel anywhere in this room or his cell. _Just great, now I get to be soaking wet for half an hour._

Feeling the familiar decent of his mood into being sullen and sombre and recognizing that brooding would get him nowhere, Nick knew he had to change his mood before he descended too far and became depressed. In an effort to boost his curiosity he began examining his body closely. As the warm water coursed through his fur he took mental notes of the changes his time out in the wild had made to his body. _Hmm… a couple of scratches on my limbs and belly, a bruise that's just about completely healed, not bad for surface wounds. My bones and joints all appear to be working properly too. My muscles are…bigger?!_ It was hard to tell for certain, but Nick was pretty sure he had actually gained muscle mass.

Before the savage mammal attacks Nick had been pretty thin, even for a fox, and during his time at the Zanza Bar he had put on a little fat, but now all of that extra fat was gone, and he had actual muscle on his bones, with definition he could begin to see through his wet fur. _With the right clothes, you could look like one fantastic fox!_ He thought to himself. _A handsome tod! A ravishing Reynard!_ His word play, and discovery of his changed physique put Nick in a much better mood.

Turning off the water he set down the water hose and thought about how he would dry off. As he was thinking, he found himself dropping to all fours and walking over to the drain in the room. _Interesting, walking like this feels much better than walking on two legs_. Feeling almost like a passenger in his own body, Nick watched as he proceeded to shake himself off directly on top of the drain. _That's certainly one way to do it._ Reasserting control over his body, Nick padded back into his cell and pulled one of the sheets off of the cot and used it to finish drying himself.

Once again on two legs, as he needed his front paws to hold on to the sheet, Nick walked back in to his "bath room" and hung the now damp sheet on the middle bar near the toilet. From there, he spied both the clothes the chief of police had given him lying on the floor, and the door which presumably led to the cozy-looking room behind the glass. As he considered putting on the clothes, a part of his brain balked at the idea.

Part of him did not want him to wear those clothes. _Not like there's anyone here to look at me anyways_. Nick thought as he went to the door. _Now, let's see if big ol' buffalo butt left this door open for me too._ Nick tried the door handle, not really expecting it to turn, as it did, he cautiously tried to open the door, not really expecting it to open. To Nick's surprise and delight, it did. _Heh, the big bad chief really is just a big bad softy_ Nick thought as he walked in to the next room.

The first thing Nick noticed about this room was how different it was from his cell. The walls were decorated and had a warm-looking wooden façade, the furniture looked soft and cozy, and right in front of him was a small, clean, kitchenette with a take-out bag sitting on the counter. Nick wanted to check out the book shelf beside the fireplace that was filled with books, but that same part of him that didn't want to wear clothes demanded that he search the take-out bag for more food. As Nick was now in a good mood, he mentally chuckled to himself as he took the few steps to the counter.

 _You know, you and I are going to have to have a long chat at some point_ he thought to himself. Nick felt a general feeling of acknowledgement as he opened up the take-out bag. Excitement welled up from that other part of him as he both saw and smelled a second bug burger at the bottom of the bag. Nick then felt an odd tug at his back which caused him to turn his head quickly. Looking at his tail, he saw that it was wagging quickly back and fourth. _Seriously?!_ Nick thought, incredulous. _I must really be losing it if I can't even control my tail anymore. I'm not even that happy!_

Nick was only partially correct however. He was happy, he just didn't have an acceptable reason to be happy. Not acceptable to the rational part of Nick anyways. That didn't matter to him though as he reached in and grabbed the burger, tearing off its wrapping he took a huge bite out of the burger, chomped on it a few times, and nearly choked on it as he swallowed. _Woah! Slow down stupid! That's not how civilized mammals eat!_ Nick chastised himself as he regained his breath. _Small bites, lots of chewing_ he reminded himself as he took a much smaller bite of his burger. _It's like I'm a kit again_ Nick thought as he smiled around his mouth full of food. He would definitely require some time to re-civilize himself. Regardless, he pointedly ignored the thumping of his tail on the counter as he finished off what was left of the burger.

When he had finished the burger, Nick put the wrapper back in the bag and padded over to the bookshelf, transitioning to walking on all fours as he did so. He was impressed by how this method of motion felt more natural than walking to him now. _Quieter, easier, and much more controlled. I wonder what mammals would think if I walked like this all the time? Probably that I'm some kind of freak or mental mammal._

Reaching the bookshelf, Nick stood up and eyed the titles written on the spines of the books. Most of them he didn't recognize. However, Nick was able to grasp that the contents of most of these books were philosophical writings. _Ok, that, I did not expect._ Nick's opinion of the chief of police took a small tumble as he smelled the chief's scent on the covers of the books.

Nick normally didn't care what kind of book a mammal read, but philosophy texts left a sour taste in his mouth. The mammals who read them were hardly ever as intelligent as those who wrote them, and Nick didn't think too highly of the writers either. To Nick, philosophers were equated with mammals who had too much time on their paws, trying to discover some universal rule to assist them in life. One particular philosopher, Soc Ratcheese annoyed him to no end as his method of "philosophy" consisted of continuously asking 'why?' until the other mammal accidentally contradicted themselves or could answer no further. When mammals used the Soc-Ratic method to argue and then paraded about as if they'd proven something afterwards it really ticked Nick off.

It also annoyed Nick that most of these philosophers had lived in entirely different conditions from modern Zootopia, and dogmatically applying their "rules" and discoveries was just stupid in the modern day. If you wanted to survive in Zootopia, especially as a street predator, you had to be the opposite of dogmatic. You had to be flexible, be willing to change the rules. You had to accept the facts and make the best choice for each individual situation, not dogmatically follow a set of rules.

Fast-thinking, flexible and fastidious, these were the fundamentals of being a con-fox in the streets of Zootopia. If you foolishly clung to rules, stereotypes and expected outcomes, you may get the expected results in seven out of ten interactions with other mammals, but the other three could destroy your con, land you in jail, or worse. If the chief of police was one of those mammals who never changed their thoughts just because some long-dead mammal had the same such thoughts, he would be of no help to Nick in solving the savage mammals case. However, that did not mean Nick could not still use him.

Standing there staring at the books, and having these thoughts, Nick began to feel a little like his old self again. A little more in control, more introspective, more intelligent. Taking a mental note to assess whether the chief was flexible in his thinking or not, Nick dismissed the books as not being worth his time reading.

Eyeing the large armchair that was positioned near the fireplace, Nick leapt from his spot by the bookshelf directly into it. The chair was much too big for the fox to sit in, but Nick had other ideas. Climbing to the top of the back rest he looked around the room from his new vantage point. Noting nothing of any real interest, not even a clock, Nick jumped down off the chair in the direction of the final unopened door in the room. Landing on all fours he padded over to the door and tried the handle. This time, the handle didn't move.

 _I guess this is as far as I can go. Could have at least given me a T.V. or something_ Nick thought to himself as he made an impressive jump back on to the armchair. Getting as comfortable in the chair as he could, Nick tried to relax against a rising feeling of anxiety that was getting stronger and stronger. _Too small. Not free! Stuck! Trapped!_ Nick felt a buildup of nervous energy as a strange new fear of being trapped made itself known to him. Again he jumped off of the armchair and ran around the room on all fours in an attempt to burn off the nervous energy. _Trapped! Run! Escape!_ Nick was having a hard time breathing. _Move! Stopping is death! Too small! Run!_

Nick blacked out.

* * *

"…an' the kits 'ave eaten already. They're outside helpin' yer father with the harvest. But I thought you might wan' some carrot pancakes before you left." Giddeon's voice brought Judy out of her brooding thoughts and back to the present. Raising her eyes from Gideon's collar to meet his, Judy processed what he had just said.

"Thanks Gideon. I'll um, I'll have two. But I'm in a bit of a hurry, I have to get to my psychological assessment as soon as Doctor Nimblepaws opens." She replied as she smelled the carrot pancakes Gideon was cooking up. He really was fast becoming a really great chef.

"Alrigh', they're just abou' done if ya don' mind the carrots bein' a bit crunchy." Gideon replied as he turned back to the frying pan.

"Nope, just toss them over here when they're ready." Said Judy as she set the plate and glass she had acquired while Gideon was talking down on the table. After she poured her glass of carrot juice from the jug that was still on the table she looked up to see Gideon facing her and holding the pan in a strange way. Realizing what he was about to do, Judy's ears shot up and she quickly raised a paw. "No! Stop Gideon!

Fortunately, she was fast enough in her reaction that Gideon stopped just before he launched the pancakes in her general direction. Walking up to him with her plate in her paws she continued. "That was a figure of speech. Just slide the pancakes onto my plate please."

"Oh I'm sorry Jude, Ah thought you actually wanted me to throw them. I thought it was a strange request. I mean, not many mammals want their food thrown at them, but you did ask so I" Gideon rambled on as he slid the pancakes onto Judy's plate.

"It's ok Gideon. That was my mistake. I used the wrong words. You were right to think it was a weird thing to ask for. Judy walked back to the table as Gideon turned to the sink to wash out the pan. As she ate her pancakes her sharp ears could hear the sound of Gideon cleaning the pan. Underneath that routine sound, however, she also detected the sound of sniffling. Ears perked in curiosity she ventured "Gideon? You ok?"

The sound of sniffling continued for a moment before Gideon responded, his back still to Judy. "I'm sorry Judy, it's this collar. I, I should have known you didn't wan' me to throw the pancakes, but I just couldn' think straight. Ever since I passed out from being shocked it's been hard to think an' to concentrate. Judy…I'm scared."

Judy felt her heart give out to the big fox. He had never been all that bright to begin with, but the fact that he had been slipping up mentally a lot more frequently after returning from Zootopia that fateful night, and that he knew it made her heart ache. Judy personally thought that the electric shock he took could have caused some brain damage. Now Judy knew that, in his own way, Gideon seemed to be aware of it, and it terrified him.

Coming up beside her family's favorite fox, she hugged his side. "It's ok Gideon. It'll be ok. My whole family is here for you. You will get through this." Judy comforted him with the only words she could think of. Words that she feared might not be true, but needed to be said.

Realizing that she had stayed home for longer than she wanted to, she looked up at Gideon, ears back to their alert position and her eyes wide with the realization. "I have to go! I can't be late for my assessment! Are you going to be ok?"

"I'll, I'll be ok. Go an' make the world a better place." Gideon said, mustering a smile for the rabbit who had rearranged his life for the better.

Taking that as her cue, Judy quickly gathered her stuff and quite literally hopped out the front door.

* * *

"That…is…all… You… are…perfectly…ready…to…return…to…duty." sludged out the sloth.

Judy, for her part, was at her wit's end. She was thrown completely off-guard to find out that Doctor Nimblepaws was actually a sloth. Her examination, which consisted only of ten questions and answers had taken four hours to complete. While the sloth had been quite quick mentally, and Judy felt he had an excellent understanding of her mental state, it had taken him forever to speak his questions.

Just like at the DMV with Nick, she would desperately try to finish his sentences and answer his questions in order to speed up the conversation, but he would insist on speaking the full sentence regardless. The mere fact that the appointment she had expected to take half an hour at most had taken four was driving her up the walls.

"Thank you so much doctor!" She exclaimed, glad that it was finally over. "I assume the ZPD will pay you when you file your assessment with them?" Judy asked, hoping for a response in the affirmative so that she could get to the Bunnyburrow police department by the time the lunch break ended.

"Yes…"

"Great! I've got to go! Thanks again! Bye!" Judy quickly spoke as she gathered her jacket and bag as quickly as she could and made to rush out of the office.

"that…" Judy's ears drooped in exasperation as she realized that Doctor Nimblepaws was not going to take the simple one-word answer and that it would be rude to leave him mid-sentence.

"is…correct… Have…a…nice…day." The sloth slowly waved her off as he consulted his notes.

"Thanks, you too!" Judy blurted out before dashing out the door.

* * *

Finally, Judy found herself back in her ZPD blues and standing at a podium in front of a room full of officers. She had been nervous about giving this presentation, but she needed to introduce herself to this precinct and prepare the officers for training in dealing with savage mammals, as per Chief Bogo's orders. As such, she had prepared for this speech ahead of time.

It didn't matter, she was still terrified.

Looking around the room, Judy saw a sea of rabbit ears, interspersed with a couple of pigs, sheep, two ferrets, and the chief of the Bunnyburrow police department, who was a female elephant with a large scar down the inside of her leg.

"Why are there so many rabbits, I thought I was the first rabbit officer?" Judy asked Chief Snoots.

The chief snorted. "You were. But right after you, came a whole wave of rabbits who wanted to be police officers. Of course, Mayor Lionheart's mammal initiative required that we accept them all. Some nonsense about how the ratio of species within the department should reflect that of Bunnyburrow." Chief Snoots shook her head.

"But what about the previous officers? Where are they?" Judy asked as she waited for the officers to quiet down.

"They're at the back. We didn't have many to begin with, so we had room in the budget for a few rabbits. But when the savage mammal attacks started, the mayor practically started throwing money at us to increase the size of our police force. Thus the increase in rabbit officers."

Judy just stared out at the sea of rabbit officers in shock. That meant that most of the members of this force had less than a year of experience under their belts. Not good.

She was so shocked that it took her a moment to realize that the officers were finally silent and staring back at her.

 _Time to start. You got this._ "Hello everyone. My name is Judy Hopps. Officer Hopps to you. I was asked to come here by chief Bogo of the ZPD precinct one. I will be training you all in how to handle savage mammals, particularly those who are bigger than you are. By the time we are done, I expect each and every one of you will be capable of taking down mammals many times your size with ease." _Doing good. Now for the questions. Remember, answer their question with another question, then answer that question._

A jackrabbit with grey fur and stripes on his face in the very back raised his paw. "Yes, in the back." Judy pointed to him.

"What qualifies you to teach us about savages?" The jackrabbit asked her, his voice towing the line between indifferent curiosity and snide impetuousness.

"Well officer…" Judy trailed off realizing he hadn't given his name.

"Savage." Whispered chief Snoots in her ear.

"Officer savage." Judy smirked a little when she realized that his question may have just been meant as a jibe or a reference to his own name. _Too bad, you asked the question, time to learn the answer._ "The reason why I was personally asked by the Chief of the entire ZPD to teach you how to handle savage mammals is because I have the most experience, knowledge, and creativity when it comes to capturing savage mammals larger than myself. I was the first officer to come into contact with a savage mammal, who happened to be a jaguar by the way. I was also the officer to locate the twelve missing savage mammals. Since then I have single-handedly captured several savage mammals, tracked and trapped a dozen more, and spoken to a number of the most prestigious doctors and psychologists about their condition."

Judy revelled in the silent admiration on the faces of every mammal in the room while they digested what this meant. Every face except for officer Savage's, which seemed to waiver between smugness and pride.

"In short, I am the most qualified."

A rather small rabbit officer in the front raised their paw. "Why do we have to learn how to take down a large mammal? Only predators go savage and they all have to wear tame collars now. Can't we just activate their collars?"

The question stunned Judy. Especially after seeing what the collar had done to Gideon, she was surprised that any mammal would be so callous about using it, so indifferent to the suffering it caused.

Turning her head down to hide the tears that began forming in her eyes at the thought of how much Gideon had suffered, she answered in a near whisper.

"Do you know why we call them savages?" She asked.

A whisper, to any mammal, may as well have been normal volume from across a table to a rabbit, so it came as no surprise to Judy when officer Savage answered her rhetorical question.

"Because that's the term you gave them at the press conference regarding the missing mammals."

Looking up with a ferocious anger in her eyes, Judy glared at officer Savage. Her anger, however, was directed at herself.

"That's right, because I was stupid. We call them savage mammals because I was ignorant, small minded, and prejudiced. I stupidly believed that prior to domestication, all savage predators acted aggressively and violently. I stupidly believed that somehow predators could revert to their primitive selves and become 'savage'. I spoke without really knowing anything about what I was talking about. I was wrong."

Judy paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. This was her chance, on a small scale, to correct part of the damage she had done to the relationship between predators and prey. She needed to speak carefully, and speak only the facts this time. No conjecture.

With her thoughts collected, and an idea of how to say what she wanted to, Judy began. "As I said earlier, I have since spoken to quite a few doctors and psychologists who are currently studying the savage mammals we have collected. Their condition is not a result of reverting to a primitive state. It is far worse than that. What we currently know is that some chemical is inhibiting their upper brains, reducing them to their more primal functions. Even for predators, however, this would not cause them to attack other mammals unless they were hungry or threatened. From brain scans, and theories based on behavioral patterns of non-sentient animals and first-hand accounts of blind mammals who have had their sight restored to them, it appears as though that same chemical is amplifying their senses and that their brains are interpreting the excess information as excruciating pain."

Judy took a deep breath. She had been careful to emphasize the word 'pain' with her tone and pace.

"It is this state of being unable to think, the confusion of being overwhelmed by their own senses, and their pain that causes them to lash out at anything that moves. They interpret the pain as being caused by an inescapable threat, and they lash out at that threat."

Judy could see she had the rapt attention of every mammal in the room. Even officer Savage lost the smug grin on his face, empathy and sadness causing his ears to droop behind his back.

"So to answer your question. If they are already in excruciating pain, and that causes them to lash out, do you really think adding more pain to the mix is going to do anything?" Judy stared at the rabbit who had asked the question.

The rabbit slowly swallowed and shook his head in a silent 'no'.

"In fact, I have not yet heard of a single report of the tame collar succeeding in calming down, or even stopping a savage mammal." Judy finished sadly. "I am not willing to risk your lives by under preparing you on the chance that it might work."


	11. Chapter 6(D)

**Author's Note:**

Alright, I'm a bit **dissapointed** that I didn't get any reviews on the last chapter. So here's another one with a slightly changed writing style. Let me know how it works for you.

Anyways, I'm exhausted, and I have to be up in four hours for work in the morning. So there might be some typos or errors. If you spot any, let me know.

Otherwise, enjoy, and good night!

*Insert generic copyright disclaimer here*

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 6 (D)**

 **J: Than what I've been handed / N: I'm not to blame if your world turns to black**

Chief Snoots' trunk snaked its way around Judy and grabbed hold of the podium. Judy stepped out of the way just in time to avoid getting smacked by the thing as Chief Snoots raised the microphone to in front of her mouth.

"Alright you lazy scrubs! Break time is over! Time to get your asses back to training! Everyone out!" Yelled chief Snoots at the mass of grey and brown ears in front of her.

After a furry hurricane left the room, leaving only a few officers behind, the chief turned to Judy. "Gotta be tough on them, since they're all new, we need them to be at their very best at all times. One mistake in this job can get you killed. But you already knew that."

Judy, for her part, was still holding her ears, partially in shock at what the chief had just said, and partially in pain at the volume at which she'd said it.

Three mammals, however, had not left the room and were approaching Judy. Chief Snoots gave them a look then turned to Judy. "You can have 15 minutes for a question and answer period, but afterwards I expect you to be in my office. Understood officer Hopps?" She said loudly.

"Understood ma'am!" Judy saluted, holding the salute until chief Snoots had left the room.

As Judy looked at the mammals in front of her, she noticed two of them were collared weasels, and the third was officer savage.

"Officer Hopps, just wanted to thank you for your words about these tame collars." One of the weasels said while fidgeting with their collar.

"You're welcome, officer…?" She responded, not knowing the weasel's name.

"Slip, and I'm officer Slide." Responded the second weasel. "We've had some real trouble with the new recruits using the remote activation to shock us in the past. Sometimes as a joke, sometimes as a way to one-up their superiors. It'll do them good to learn some empathy."

"That's horrible!" Judy responded, shocked that some of her new recruits could do such a reprehensible thing, especially to their superiors.

"Yeah well, after the first dozen times, when we realized they were doing it on purpose, we taught them exactly why we are their superiors. I doubt anyone's going to try that little prank on us again." Responded officer Slip.

Officer Slide chuckled and so did officer Savage. "Sort of why they call us the savage trio." Chuckled out officer Savage.

Judy looked at the jackrabbit. "Let me guess, these two because of their reaction, and you because of your name?" she asked.

"No, me because I helped officers Slip and Slide teach those arrogant little shits a lesson." He explained.

"That's a surprise." Judy said, actually somewhat impressed. "I've seen too much of prey mammals not caring about the suffering of predators recently. I'm glad you defended your fellow officers."

"I was glad to do it. I'm actually glad you'll be teaching the newbies not to use the tame collars. If anything deserves the term 'savage' it's those collars. I hate them myself."

Judy felt her heartbeat quicken. Here was a like-minded lapin who wasn't afraid to stand up for what was right and fair. And judging from the fact that he sat in the back and was associated with the predators, she could bet that he was part of the initial ZPD force in Bunny Burrow.

"I thought I was the first rabbit officer in the ZPD." Judy mused, quickly raising her paws to cover her mouth. "I'm so sorry, that came out wrong, I was just..."

"It's fine, I'm actually a jackrabbit, semantics I know, but it's what let mayor Lionheart get away with a lot of his publicity stunts. I'm actually about two years your senior." Officer Savage interrupted her with a raised paw. "Look, we just wanted to say thanks for your empathy, and to wish you luck with training these scrubs. If you ever need any help, let us know." He finished, Officers Slip and Slide nodding their agreement. "You'd better go see Chief Snoots. She gets angry if you're late." He said as they walked out of the meeting room.

 _Oh Carrot Sticks!_ Judy thought as she realized she didn't know where chief Snoots' office was.

* * *

"Glad you could make it officer Hopps. Take a seat." Said chief Snoots from her desk.

Judy leapt up and in to the strangely rabbit-sized chair that was raised to be able to see over the desk. Looking at the elephant nervously, she waited to hear what her new chief had to say.

"Excellent presentation. I'm glad we have you here to teach these newbies how to be real officers, deserving of their badges. Your training schedule starts tomorrow. You will have the old team in the mornings and the newbies in the afternoon. If there is anything you require to set up the training field, please let me know by the end of the day."

"Yes, Ma'am. Understood." Judy said, she was impressed by the business-like fashion in which chief Snoots handled these meetings. Very different from Chief Bogo's silent simmering stoicism.

"Good. Now that that's out of the way, I just got a call from officer Francine before you got here. She said she had a message for you but that she couldn't reach you on your cell."

Judy reached into her pocket to pull out her cellphone. "Yes ma'am, I had it turned off for the presentation. I didn't want to be rude." She explained, not really seeing where this was going.

"Understood, and commendable of you. However, we will need to have a reliable method of contacting you at all times in the future. I recommend you leave your cellphone on and either in silent or vibrate mode. Understood?"

Judy felt her ears go red with embarrassment. She wanted to hide her face, of course she needed to keep her phone on for communications. She was just too nervous in this new police department and made a rookie mistake.

"Understood ma'am I'll turn it on right now." She quickly got out as she turned it on and changed the sound settings to vibrate.

"Good. Now, as to officer Francine's message. She wanted me to tell you that they did manage to catch the pernicious pachyderm who caused that fox to perish. And that she is currently building a case against him. She will need you to testify however as, without any eye-witnesses, the case is extremely flimsy. In all likelihood, he will go unpunished."

 _Don't let them see that they get to you._ Judy thought to herself as she fought to keep her anger from showing. _You don't know how chief Snoots will react to you prosecuting another elephant._

"I for one, am extremely disappointed," began chief Snoots. Judy felt her ears lower, upset that her new chief might actually be willing to forgo justice in favor of species favoritism. "that ZPD's finest can't build a stronger case against that criminal. I will be giving you the day of the trial off in order for you to go and testify in person." Finished the chief, a small smile on her face. "Yes Judy, I know that I am the same species, but despite that, justice must always prevail and apply equally to everyone."

Judy's eyes were wide and filled with respect for this chief in front of her. She felt nothing but pride for her new chief.

"Right, so in conclusion. I want a report of all of the training gear and equipment you will need for teaching my force proper savage capture techniques on my desk by the end of the day. Actual training begins tomorrow morning with the veterans, and in the afternoon with the newbies. Dismissed." Said the elephant briskly as she returned to her reports.

Quite happy with the business-like demeanor and dedication to justice that her new chief demonstrated. Judy gave a sharp salute before stuffing her phone back in her pocket and hopping off of her chair.

"Thank you chief Snoots, I wont let you down." Said Judy as she saluted again at the door.

*bzzzzt*

Judy quickly walked out of the room.

*bzzzzt*

Judy reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone.

*bzzzzt*

 _Alright, alright!_ She thought, as she picked up the call.

"Officer toot-toot!" came a deep and gruff voice. "I got a line on my boy Nick. Last anyone saw him was about a week ago. He was at the northern border of Zootopia, wandering around naked in the woods."

"Finnick?" Judy asked, a little surprised to be hearing from the tiny fennec fox. "Is that you?"

"Course it is dumb-ass. Know any other mammals that call you officer toot-toot? The hell have you been up to anyways, no one's seen you 'round for over a month."

Judy felt shame wash over her. She had dutifully spent the month off as chief Bogo had ordered. But even if she was ordered to do it, she had abandoned Nick. She'd let him down again. She opened her mouth to tell Finnick, but couldn't quite decide on how to explain her failure.

"Never mind. Listen, I just thought you might want to know what I found out while I was out here doing **your** job. See you later officer toot-toot."

*click*

 _Damn_. Judy thought. She finally had a real lead on where Nick was and how to find him and she already had other duties and responsibilities holding her back!

It was infuriating the number of times she'd let Nick down. After all he'd done for her, after helping her with the savage mammal case, after defending her badge from chief Bogo, after believing in her and her dream when no one else would. And she'd repaid him with bigotry, betrayal and abandonment.

She would just have to look for him on top of training the Bunny Burrow ZPD. If she left work and went directly to the train station, she could be at the northern border of Zootopia on time to get two hours of searching done before having to catch the last train home and getting to bed at 3:00 a.m.. Starting today.

Judy knew that it would be exhausting, having only three hours of sleep, but she could do it. For Nick, she had to do it, she owed him that much.

* * *

Nick had woken up in plenty of strange situations before. There was that one time where he and Finnick landed a large "hustle" and went drinking to celebrate, then when Nick was passed out, Finnick had dragged him into a back alley, drove his van right up in front of him, turned on the high-beams and blared his horn until Nick woke up. Nick had been terrified to wake up staring at the bright reflective grill of what he thought must have been the devil's own truck trying to run him down. Finnick had laughed for days from that one. As a result, Nick had refused to sleep in the truck with Finnick for a week, which led to the second strangest situation he'd ever woken up to. This time, Nick had no idea what had caused it, he had fallen asleep on a park bench near Otter's Bridge, and the next thing he knew, it was morning and he was flying through the air on a direct trajectory to the, then very cold, river. There wasn't even a mammal in sight that he could have blamed for the event. And the strangest time he had woken up was when he was in Mr. Big's employ. Nick had gone to bed in his closet of a room that Mr. Big had provided, and when he woke up, he was on the dining hall table, tied down with toothpicks, sewing needles and thread while a small horde of half-naked field mice danced around him chanting. Nick had seen Mr. Big and even his friend Raymond standing nearby with smiles on their faces, so he played along for a little while…that is until the mice started biting. Afterwards, Mr. Big had thanked Nick and given him a sizeable reward, which is what led to Nick finally being able to rent an apartment of his own to sleep in. Raymond however, in small and quiet ways, never let Nick forget.

The situation Nick currently found himself gaining consciousness to however, far surpassed anything he'd experienced previously. Nick was still naked, in the "shower room", and fighting with Chief Bogo for possession of the bedsheet he'd used to dry himself off with earlier. Chief Bogo was having a hard time holding on to the fabric with his hooves, Nick however, was having no trouble with holding the fabric…in his jaws.

As Nick regained consciousness, apart from the situation he now found himself in, he also discovered that a large part of him was very much afraid of the large buffalo. He was also feeling strangely possessive of the bedsheet still in his mouth. And so, hackles raised, naked and all fours, with his back to the wall and a bedsheet in his mouth, Nick growled around the bedsheet at the bulky bovine.

"Let go of the bedsheet, and back out of the room shlowly. I'm having a hard time controlling myshelf right now."

Understanding that the frightened fox in front of him was once again sane…somewhat, chief Bogo let go of the bedsheet, put both hooves up, and backed slowly out of the room.

"Finally awake fox? You got the sleeping on your bedsheets part right, but they're supposed to stay **on** your bed." Came the chief's voice through the intercom.

Nick stood still a moment, fighting the feelings of fear, anger, intimidation, and possessiveness that were raging through his body. Once he stopped shaking with adrenaline, and felt the fur on his neck start to settle, he padded into his "cell" and looked at the brazen buffalo through the window.

"Not funny buffalo butt." Nick half growled out. "I'm honestly still fighting the urge run from you, and since I can't run away, I'm also fighting the urge to tear your throat out."

The chief's nearly imperceptible grin faded as concern crept around the corners of his eyes. Bogo barely knew this fox before him, but he had enjoyed every interaction they'd had together. The chief had even lamented last night that if things had been different, Nick would have probably been one of the best officers in his precinct.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, just peachy. Just give me a moment, I don't think I'm entirely out of the woods yet, so to speak." Nick growled out, anger being the predominant emotion he was feeling now that there was a wall keeping the monstrously large mammal safely at bay.

Acknowledging the fox's request for time, the chief just nodded and left the room. Only to return a few moments later with a massive file box in his bulging biceps. He set the box down in front of the large armchair, bending at the knees of course, and left the room again. Again he returned with a large box braced in his arms, which he set down beside the first.

Looking around for a safe place to store his bedsheet, Nick decided to fold it up and stash it underneath the mattress. For some reason, he was quite attached to that little comfort, and didn't want to risk it being taken from him.

"Whenever you're ready fox. I could use your help with this case."

 _Of all the arrogant, insufferable, smug….arg! Was he even listening to me!?_ Nick thought as he spied the chief through the window, sitting in the large armchair and staring at Nick with a long-suffering expression on his face. _Perhaps working on the case will help. More thinking, less feeling. Never let them see that they get to you_. Nick snorted in amusement at his mental musings. _Never let them see that they get to you, what a joke that motto became_. Nick had certainly allowed certain mammals to see that they got to him. He'd let them get to him, he'd let it show, and he'd acted based on his emotions, which was what got him here in the first place. _Ok, less feeling, more thinking. Deep breath, walk out there cocky and charming. There's no need to be afraid of ol' buffalo butt, he wont harm you. Can't get information out of a pancake._

Nick took a deep breath, then another…then one more. _You're stalling. No I'm not! Shut up!_ And with all of the natural grace of his wild ancestors, Nick slunk out of the cell, out of the following shower room, and into the main room.

"Alright," Nick said as he sat down in front of the boxes, facing the chief and the boxes together. "let's see how good the grazer is at scavenging."

"Better than a fox at dodging whistles."

"Shut up."

Nick began rummaging through the first box, finding folder after folder filled with files from each incident of savage mammal attack.

"I don't need all this junk! Look at this!" Nick exclaimed, pulling out the last page of a report "Investigation has proven inconclusive" he quoted. "If it was conclusive you would have solved it by now. What I need is the newspaper articles, color photos of the savage mammals, a list of all of the mammals who went savage, and a map of where and when each incident occurred."

Unable to contain his smile this time, chief Bogo reached under the folder balanced on the top of the second box and pulled out everything Nick had asked for. "So you do know something." He smirked at the fox as he held out his hoof with the documents requested.

"No. I have a suspicion, what I'm looking for is evidence to support my suspicion. Pretty slick hiding the important stuff. Perhaps you have potential after all, as more than a walking steroid advertisement I mean." Nick quipped back as he laid out everything the chief had handed him in front of him. "Can't say the same about your officers though." Nick added as he looked over the photographs of some of the savage mammals. "Bunch of idiots if you ask me." He mumbled, frowning at the photos.

The chief remained silent as he let the fox do his work. For his part, the chief suspected that it wasn't a matter of intelligence, but motivation. His remaining officers were all prey mammals, some with serious prejudices against predators. Chief Bogo wouldn't be surprised if more than a few mammals were intentionally investigating poorly.

"Ah, I thought so." Nick said, more to himself than to the chief. But as the larger mammal shifted to see what Nick was looking at, Nick noticed his attention and handed the chief some of the color photographs. "Look at their necks. Each and every one of them has a small patch of blue colored fur. I'd noticed it when Judy and I found the first twelve, no thirteen savage mammals. I didn't trust my memory though."

"Meaning?" the chief grumbled out, genuinely curious about the blue patch of fur.

"Not sure yet, but it is a connecting factor. If I had to guess, I'd say that it relates to either the cause, or a symptom of their turning savage." Mumbled the fox as he began examining the map of savage attacks. Without further explanation, Nick grabbed a pen from the second box, having known it was there from seeing it when the chief had first fetched the map and photos out of the box. He then proceeded to write down a number beside each marked attack and drew lines on the map connecting attacks that occurred on the same day. Nodding to himself, and examining the map one more time, Nick then draw a circle encompassing every attack that occurred on the same day, with the attacks being located on the circumference of the circles. Finally, Nick drew lines between the circles to link them in order of when the paired attacks occurred.

Holding up his finished work for the chief's inspection, Nick asked "does this look like the pattern of infection for an infectious disease?"

Taking the map in his own hooves, the buffalo just shook his head, still trying to comprehend exactly what the fox had drawn. While he didn't know exactly what it meant, he did know that the pattern of mammals gone savage did not seem to radiate out from a central point, or patient zero as the ZCDC called the mammal who first showed symptoms. Instead, the pattern showed a series of circles, all roughly the same size, with exactly two reports of savage mammals on any day when mammals went savage, and no discernable pattern in which direction the so-called infection was travelling.

Trying to play devil's advocate, the chief asked "What about contaminated food?"

"Already thought of that, the reports would still have been heavily focused around a central area, possibly with more outliers. And we would have seen far more reports than a mere two per day. Particularly more on days after most mammals eat out, like on Fridays." Nick responded absent-mindedly, the newspapers now spread out haphazardly in front of him. "Pass the map back for a bit, and a stapler. Please."

Chief Bogo did as Nick asked, quite impressed with how quickly the fox's mind operated. While some of his officers investigating the outbreaks had expressed doubts that it was the result of an infection, none had drawn the inferences Nick had just drawn. Nick's defaced map alone was leading chief Bogo to conclude that the savage mammals were a result of a mammal's deliberate and calculated actions. As he came to that conclusion, he realized Nick must have already come to the same conclusions and was now looking for proof. The chief was curious as to why Nick would look at the newspapers instead of the police reports for his proof, but decided to remain quiet and watch.

"So, any idea what can cause a mammal's fur to turn blue?" Nick asked conversationally as he stapled a few more ripped up newspaper clippings to the map.

"Whatever it is, you wont find it in the newspapers. Why aren't you reading the police reports?" Chief Bogo couldn't help himself. He was curious as to why the fox was deliberately avoiding what was potentially his biggest source of information.

"I don't trust them. I haven't trusted the ZPD in a long time. Carrots was the first officer I've ever trusted, and after seeing how your officers treated injured predators, probably the last." Nick responded absently as he stapled the final newspaper clipping to the map. "Take a look at this and tell me what you see." He said as he handed the map back to the chief.

Looking at the map with the added newspaper clippings, the chief noted that each circle had at least one article stapled underneath it, sometimes folded up so that you could see underneath the article. The chief heard a derisive snort come from the fox as his eyebrows slowly rose in shock. Each attack had occurred on the same time, and in the same place as, an advertised event.

Chief Bogo read each and every newspaper article stapled to the map, unable to believe the implications of what he was reading. When he finished, he lowered the map and looked at the fox, his jaw actually hanging open at both the fact that Nick had managed to discover more in a few hours than what his officers had discovered in week, and at what these facts implied.

Nick was carefully avoiding looking at the buffalo as he scanned the police reports. From each report, he tore out a single page, read over it briefly, then set it down beside him. "As you can see, every time a mammal went savage, it was in a highly populated area, at the same time and place as a large gathering was guaranteed to be due to events being advertised at least two days before in the news." Nick said as he tore out another paper and scowled at it. "And there's always a news crew ready to record the incident due to them being there for the event. Someone is deliberately turning mammals savage, and in such a way as to maximize news coverage." Nick snarled angrily.

"So, someone is deliberately turning mammals savage. But why? To what purpose?" mused the chief as he processed all of this information. It really was far too late for him to be up, and he was already sleep deprived before today. However, something big was happening in Zootopia, his city, and he had to stop it from destroying the peace he had fought so hard for.

Chief Bogo found himself waking up to the fox's arm once again being thrust in his direction. This time with a collection of loose papers in it. Picking up the papers the chief noticed two things. The first was that they were victim lists from the police reports. The second was that each page had a tally written in pen at the top listing out the number of predators and prey on each list. Overwhelmingly, the victims were predators.

"That much is obvious. By remaining silent and letting the public think that all predators are inherently a threat, they are hoping to spark a civil war between predators and prey. And your police force is so incompetent, or prejudiced, or both, that it's actually working!" Nick responded with clear disgust on his face. _Hey, you're getting too worked up. Don't let him see that it gets to you!_ _Screw that! It does get to me! All these mammals, too stupid to evaluate each other on an individual basis, having to put others into mental boxes and then coloring them all with the same brush. It goes beyond prey mammals having an instinctual fear of predators. Labels, mental groupings, it's all just a tool for the mentally lazy that ends up hurting innocents! The ZPD should be better than that, but they're not. Now their mental laziness is threatening to allow some evil bastard to create a predator-prey war!_

"Look at the list. Each attack has at least one prey victim, but also many more predator victims. If I had to guess, I would say that it is a prey mammal who is doing this to both harm predators and to cause prey to fear them." Nick continued, letting his analysis of the attacks disguise his internal thoughts.

At this point, the chief was so tired that he simply decided to trust the fox for now, but verify his claims tomorrow. The chief checked his phone…today.

"…so we have five questions left to answer. Who is doing this? How? What is that blue mark? Are they working alone? Is there a cure? And when are you going to let me go?"

 _Damn_. Thought the chief of the Zootopia Police Department. _It was too much to hope that he'd just let it go until tonight._ Stifling a yawn, chief Bogo leaned forward in his chair to stare eye to eye with the fox. _Good thing I prepared for this conversation earlier today. I need to say this just right._

"About that…" The chief started slowly. "I will let you go. Tonight if you want, but there is something I'd like to ask you about first. Especially now that I believe that citizens of my city are being dosed with some sort of…savage injection." He finished, dropping his usual no-nonsense mask and letting his concern show on his face.

Sighing loudly, to stifle the next yawn he felt coming up, he continued. "There is an underground group of predators called the 'Carnivorous Mushrooms'. As far as I know, it's a small group consisting only of predators. They have believed for some time that some organization was attempting to kill off predators or start a civil war with them. If your theory is correct, they may know more about it than we do."

Chief Bogo paused and stared heavily at the fox, as if weighing him. Not that the chief was, he already had a good guess as to how Nick would respond, but he needed Nick to know that the chief was taking a risk on trusting the fox.

"It's entirely up to you, but as I have no predator officers at my disposal right now, and as they might have crucial information to preventing a civil war, I need to ask." The chief took a deep breath. "Will you infiltrate the Carnivorous Mushrooms and report back to me on any information they might have about the mammal or mammals responsible for turning my citizens into savage predators?"

The two mammals stared at each other for a long time. The fur on the back of Nick's neck slowly rising as he began to suspect that he was being manipulated.

"Why me?" Nick asked quietly.

"As I just said"

"No. Not why do you need someone else to go. Why **ME**? You don't even know if you can trust me." He emphasized.

Chief Bogo leaned back in his chair, _Hook, line and sinker._ He thought as he kept used the lighting, angles and his size to keep Nick from seeing the small smile on his face.

"You're right. I don't know that I can trust you. But you are a smart fox. You've come up with more information on the mammals going savage in a few hours than half of my remaining force has in just as many weeks. I have no doubt that you could play both sides here if you wanted to."

"That's because they're either incompetent or traitors." Nick growled out, his ears pinned to his head, tail fluffed out, and fur rising in anger.

Nick was about to open his mouth to say something more when the police chief silenced him with a hard glare. "But" chief Bogo emphasized "I do trust my assessment of your motives. You want to avoid a civil war. I want to avoid a civil war. Simple."

Nick shook his head. _No, it can't be that simple! Nobody trusts a fox. Remember that night on the bridge at Vine and Tajunga? He specifically said 'you think I'm going to believe a fox'?_

"Bullshit." Nick spat out. "You don't trust me, you said so the first time we met. And what could you possibly know about my motives?"

This question caught the chief off guard. Not the part about Nick's motives, but that he remembered the night on Tajunga bridge so clearly. Sighing, the chief leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, and his head on his hands.

"That was…a mistake. I was trying to get officer Hopps to quit. I thought I had to keep her away from dangerous work in order to protect her. I didn't believe in her as much as I should have, as much as you did. Perhaps I've been underestimating smaller mammals too much."

The chief took a moment to adjust his position in the chair while he let his words sink in. "As for your motives. I know you saved the lives of some rodents in Little Rodentia when their apartments collapsed."

"And what if I was the reason the apartments collapsed in the first place?" Nick shot back. He wasn't, not directly, but he had sold the 'redwood' that made up those apartments. It had been his fault.

"I know that you went to great lengths to secure medicine for one of the victims, even asking the crime boss Mr. Big. That must have cost you."

"The injured rodent was a member of Mr. Big's 'family'. He would have killed me if I'd let anyone in his family die."

"I know you believed in Judy, that you protected her, even against me, even when she had given up."

Nick's eyes widened, surprised to hear that the chief had remembered what he'd done for Judy. His surprise quickly turned to sadness, and partially shame. Nick had to look down as he was certain his eyes were tearing up.

"She…she believed in me." He choked out. "She was the first prey mammal to ever believe in me. Even after being hustled by me." Even now, he had a hard time believing how special Judy was, how much her actions meant to him. How much he enjoyed that she didn't fear or resent him after being hustled, but had instead returned to hustle him back.

"Well maybe." The chief said quietly. "I believe in you too."

After a few minutes of silence, the chief fighting sleep, and Nick fighting with his emotions. The chief had sounded sincere. _Does he really believe in me?_ Nick wondered. _It doesn't matter what he says, watch what he does. Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words and all that. Say 'no', if he still lets you go then he may actually be telling the truth._

"I'll do it." Nick heard himself whisper. _So much for saying 'no'… wait, half of his remaining force?_

"If, you explain what you meant by 'half of my remaining force'." He continued, louder this time.

If Nick had thought he could read the chief of police after spending a few hours with him, he would have said that chief Bogo's reaction was one of….nervousness?

The chief fidgeted a little and readjusted in the chair before once again reaching into the second box he'd brought in with him.

"About that. There's a bit of a story behind it, but it's something we need to discuss before you leave this room." He pulled out a tame collar.

"The big bad ZPD frightened of a little ugly jewelry?" Nick asked mockingly.

"Yes." Came the chief's simple answer. "This is called a tame collar. A few weeks ago mayor Belleweather asked the ZPD's predators to wear it as a role model for Zootopia. The idea is that they can be activated either remotely by the ZPD, or when a predator shows signs of aggression or going savage. Once activated, the collars shock the predator wearing them in order to prevent further aggression."

The chief was cut off by the very loud sound of growling coming from Nick. The fox's eyes were narrow with disgust. He was standing on all four paws, ears lowered to his head and fur standing out all over his body. The fox was clearly very pissed off.

"Exactly the same reaction most of my officers had. Instead of demonstrating the collars to the citizens, they resigned. Not that it mattered as mayor Belleweather passed a bill a few days later mandating that all predators within Zootopia must wear a tame collar while in public."

"No." Growled out Nick, already knowing where this conversation was heading. "No fucking way." He was already backed up as far into the corner as he could get. Nick felt that…other part of him fighting for control, demanding that he either run or attack. Nick struggled to maintain his control.

"Nick. I need you to calm down." The chief said, falling back on training from when he was an officer in training.

"No fucking way you're putting one of those torture devices around my neck!" Nick's voice rose in pitch with his fear.

"Relax, this one's a dud. I've modified it." The chief said as he strapped it onto his wrist.

Confused, Nick calmed down slightly as he tried to figure out just what the chief was up to. _What was the point of strapping it on to his own wrist?_ He thought.

 _The point, of course, was to confuse you into paying attention to me and not your fears._ The chief thought, knowing exactly what was going through the fox's head. "I've gutted a growl activated collar meant for a female mongoose. Unless you squeal like a girl, it shouldn't be activated by you at all."

Nick slowly paced towards the chief, when he got to where his nose was nearly touching the collar turned bracelet, he quickly tried a variety of noises, from growling to squealing. Seeing no signs of activation, and no signs of reacting to being shocked by the chief of police, he accepted the chief's explanation.

"So in order to be join the Carnivorous mushrooms, I need to be able to walk around in public. And in order to walk around in public I need to wear this collar. But you've made it so that I wont accidentally get zapped while spying for you. Sneaky."

The chief nodded. "Yes, unfortunately, that is the price of your freedom. You must wear this collar…and clothes. We are civilized mammals after all."

Nick looked down at his still naked state. "Eh, I'll put them on before I leave." His eyes hardened. "What about the ZPD?"

"Pardon?" deadpanned chief Bogo, pretending he thought the fox was asking if the ZPD needed to wear clothes.

"Can the ZPD remotely activate this collar?" Nick asked, eyes narrowed again.

"Yes. It would be too suspicious if they couldn't, and we'd be forced to replace your collar if anyone thought it was faulty."

"Fine. Give it to me." Nick said curtly, clearly still very unhappy with the idea. However, he was going to go crazy if he had to spend another day in this…room. He could still feel the Fox demanding that he get out of this large cage and threatening to take control to do just that.

A few moments later saw Nick and chief Bogo standing just outside the ZPD front entrance. Nick was fully dressed and wearing a collar, chief Bogo looked about ready to fall asleep where he stood. Fortunately, since none of the remaining mammals of the ZPD were nocturnal, all of the mammals had agreed to take a police radio home and respond to calls from their homes at night, they hadn't had to explain the presence of a fox at the ZPD.

"Report back to me when you learn something. Oh, and your old pall Weaselton should be able to get you into the group." Chief Bogo said as he gave Nick a hard pat on the shoulder and walked back into the ZPD.

 _Oh great, and how am I going to do that?_ Nick thought before he realized a new weight in his shirt pocket. Reaching in, he pulled out a cellular phone, sized perfectly for foxes. He quickly turned on the phone to find out that the contacts were already open, and there was a single unnamed number listed there. _That sneaky little….big bastard._ Nick thought with a grin. Despite everything, he might actually be starting to like the bulging buffalo.


	12. Chapter 7 (A)

**Author's Note:**

Not dead, not abandoned, just no time.

I'm still working on this fic, but I will be too busy to do any writing over the next month. Don't worry, it's not abandoned, and I still have many plans for where I want this story to go. We're just starting to get to the good stuff.

As usual, rate and review. Any and all criticisms welcome. Reviews are the fuel to my creative engine, and I crave fuel.

Copyright belongs to the respective copyright owners, including but not limited to the creators of Zootopia, Skye the fox, and Jack Savage.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 7 (A)**

 **J: I've been crawling in the dark / N: As your eyes start to blister**

Judy quickly hopped off of the bunny burrows subway. She had gone straight to the subway station after work and had to ride all the way around Zootopia before the train reached the north-most stop at High Road in the Meadowlands.

Fortunately for Judy, it was not so far north that the sun had completely set by the time she had arrived. Unfortunately, it was in the process of setting. She would have to be quick if she hoped to find anything before she was unable to see. _Tomorrow I'll bring a flashlight_. Judy thought to herself as she ran through the Meadowlands towards the northern Zootopia border. She needed to save as much time as possible so that she could use it to search the forest for Nick.

According to Finnick, Nick was last seen in the forest bordering the Meadowlands north of Zootopia. Since the forest wasn't that large, Judy guessed that it would take her about a week of searching to find any clues of Nick's presence if he was still there. Of course, that guess was made before she realized how little time she would have before the sun set completely.

As Judy approached the forest, she began to look around, eyes struggling to pick up anything unusual in the dying light of the sun. Fortunately for Judy, green was not Nick's favorite color. Even better, he had been wearing a red shirt when he entered the forest. Or at least, Judy hoped it was dyed red shirt fabric that she saw dangling from a thorn in a particularly prickly briar patch.

After nearly 5 minutes of careful foot steps and calculated twig snapping to clear a path, Judy found herself within reach of the scrap of fabric. Reaching out, she snagged it from its thorny resting place. As Judy's pads felt the fabric she realized it was a lot coarser than the fabrics used to make shirts, especially the dress shirts Nick loved to wear. Judy crinkled her nose as she realized that, based on the scrap's placement in the bush, and its coarse material, it was more likely to be fabric from a mammal's pants than shirt. _Ugh, must be Nick's, no other mammal has such a bad fashion sense._ Judy was only partially disgusted about the thought of Nick in red jeans though, as the rest of her was simply glad that she was on the right track.

Now that Judy knew she was on the right track, she began looking around for any clues that might show her where her fox had been heading from here. It would certainly be hard to maneuver in this briar patch without breaking a path through. If a fox sized mammal didn't, they'd risk being scratched up. As such, Judy had been expecting to see signs of snagged fox fur, blood, or broken twigs to mark Nick's passage from this spot. The fact that she didn't see anything probably meant that Nick had been here and left at least a couple of days before her.

"Corndogs!" Judy swore as she stomped her foot in frustration. _It just couldn't have been that easy. Noooo, Judy Hops always has to be tested and put on trial before she can get what she wants._ _Wait a minute!_ Judy stomped her foot on the dirt again, her ears pricked up in concentration. _That's not a normal sound_. Looking down, Judy noticed the dirt underneath her was loosely packed…well, except for the parts she stomped on.

Making a brushing motion with her foot, she quickly brushed aside the loose dirt covering to locate a briefcase buried under the dirt. It was a briefcase built for a medium-large-sized mammal, yet written on the side in large letters were the words "Property of Nicholas Wilde, FOX".

"Clever fox." Judy smiled, unable to stop herself from repeating the words she'd spoken to Nick on the gondola. She had been wallowing in his past, feeling sorry for him and how other mammals had treated him. Judy had been about to console the fox, and let him know that she didn't think of him as just a fox, but Nick had already moved past that. Nick had been focusing on her problems and thought of a way to track Mr. Manchez. That was classic Nick, always being practical – sometimes cynical – and always trying, unsuccessfully, to burry his emotions. Judy really needed to get her father to teach Nick how to deal with his emotions properly if she ever found him.

 _Right. Let's see what's in case number one!_ Judy thought as she stopped reminiscing and returned her attention to Nick's briefcase. Opening it up, she found that it was relatively empty. It had a few changes of clothes, a red handkerchief, a book on Zootopian history, a utility knife with zebra-patterned handle, and a picture of… "grandmamma?" Judy wondered aloud as she stared at a picture of the old artic shrew she recalled seeing in Mr. Big's office.

 _This case is far too heavy for that to be everything._ Judy thought as she closed the briefcase and hefted it. _Yup, too heavy. What are you hiding Nick?_ Judy opened the briefcase again, this time checking the seems for hidden pockets. The now-set sun forcing her to use her cellphone as a flashlight, she examined the liner of the briefcase. At the top near the handle was not so much a hidden compartment, as that appeared to have been slashed open, but a pocket formed by the remaining fabric. Opening this impromptu pocket, Judy felt around inside. What she found was a strange stone tablet and… _My carrot pen?!_

Judy's phone beeped at her, startling her into dropping her pen. Looking at the screen, she realized that she was down to ten percent of her phone's battery. It was time to go. Judy quickly put everything in the suitcase and closed it, then she hefted it on to her back like she would when she gave her younger siblings a piggy-back ride. Understanding that with her hands occupied, she was going to get scratched on her way out of the bush, Judy began her journey back to the Zootopia subway station.

What she didn't realize, was that two sets of eyes had been watching her ever since she had entered the woods. Eyes that did not reflect the light, but instead relied on mechanical assistance to keep track of the rabbit in the dark.

* * *

It was the middle of the night, he was alone, penny-less, standing right outside of the ZPD precinct 1 headquarters, and a predator in the middle of a near civil-war. Nick shrugged, he'd been through worse. The first order of business was to get his briefcase back, as that held everything that was dearest to him. That would also place him far away from the ZPD headquarters, which were currently quite dangerous for a predator such as himself.

 _After I get my briefcase, I'll need to find a way to get some cash._ Nick thought. _At least I know now that_ i _f I had to, I could always scavenge in the wilds for food again, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it._ If what Nick had read in the newspapers earlier was true, trying to earn a living as a predator working for prey mammals would be nearly impossible now, much less trying to con prey out of their money. You may not need trust to run a good con, but you certainly needed the mammals in question to allow you to approach them. He'd keep his eyes open, but Nick had a sneaking suspicion he'd either have to work for other predators or return to a life of crime to survive.

 _Mr. Big might take me back._ He thought. _He certainly seemed to warm up after learning about Fru Fru and Judy. But then again, that was him warming up towards Judy._ Still, Mr. Big had been one of the few mammals to take a chance at employing a fox, criminally sure, but still employing. Nick had built up quite a bit of rapport with the arctic shrew…before the skunk-butt rug, maybe he could rely on that.

Nick had been heading north during his musings, not really paying attention to where he was going. Looking around him, he noted he was nearly at the border to Tundratown. A few flecks of snow drifted along the night air, sparkling brightly with light reflected from nearby light posts. It was a serene, and even beautiful moment for Nick.

Nick's serenity was suddenly shattered by the piercing shriek of a distressed vixen. Nick's ears perked up. He heard it again. _That's a vixen's scream!_ Nick ran towards the sound, even as he mentally berated himself. Running in to danger was stupid! Especially right now when he had nothing and nobody to help him! He should go the other way, ignore it. It wasn't his problem, it's the ZPD's duty to protect mammals, not his.

But then Nick remembered what the chief had said about the thinly-spread forces of the ZPD, and the way in which some officers had been treating predators. It would be especially dangerous for a fox to come across the ZPD. He was probably the only mammal around who could, or would, help the distressed vixen.

As Nick's feet carried him towards the entrance to a darkened alleyway, his heart began hammering in his chest. This was exactly like what happened with the bear cub. His fur raised in alarm as he slowed his approach. _This time, I won't be calling the ZPD._ Nick thought to himself.

Unfortunately, it seemed the ZPD were already there, as Nick noted a patrol car parked just outside the entrance to the alleyway. Strangely, all of the lights were off, except for the high-beams, which were pointed directly into the alleyway.

 _Shit! Shit! Shit!_ Nick thought. The whole situation was looking worse and worse. Just as last time, Nick brought out his phone, thinking he might be able to use it to threaten whomever was involved. Only this time, they were the ZPD, so threatening to call the ZPD wouldn't work. _Maybe…claiming to be live-streaming from my phone? That might work._

Nick quickly opened the camera app on his phone, and remembering that the chief claimed he was trying to clean up the police force, quickly snapped a picture of the ZPD cruiser. If nothing else, the chief would be able to tell which officers had that cruiser signed out for the night. Nick sent the photo to the chief with a quick note _Distressed vixen, officers appear to be here already._

Keeping the camera app on, so that the recording light remained on to give credit to his planned story, nick slowly approached the alley. As he turned the corner, the fox noticed something odd, the scent in the air was one of fear, glee, and something else. What Nick saw, was an arctic fox lying on her back on the ground, one paw raised to ward off the two hulking police officers in front of her. Nick couldn't make out the shapes of the ZPD mammals, but if he had to guess, he would bet on hippopotamus or rhinoceros.

 _Shit! I should leave!_ Nick thought, pocketing the phone as he again recalled the cruelty with which the same mammals had treated the bear cub. _Let chief Bogo handle this. I'll tell him he needs to get here urgently!_ As Nick was about to turn back around the corner, his ears perked up. Excluding his own, the fox had heard four heartbeats. There were only three mammals.

"Please, please stop! I just want to go home!" begged the arctic fox, tears streaming from her beautiful blue eyes. Her fur was matted and disheveled from having fallen in the small amount of snow on the ground. Her eyes were wide with terror, pain and desperation. There was nothing she could do but plead with the mammals before as she raised her arm in a futile gesture to ward her attackers off.

"See that Higgins? She's raising her claws against me! She's trying to attack me!" The shorter of the two officers exclaimed in mock surprise.

"Better shock her again before she goes savage! Who knows how much damage a savage fox could do before we manage subdue it." Chuckled the other back.

"I think you're right". Came the reply as the shorter officer pressed a button on a remote he was holding. Nick could see the arctic vixen convulse in pain as soon as the button was pressed, her shrieks of pain piercing the night sky.

The fox heard it. The fox smelt it. The fox knew it. The vixen was pregnant! Before Nick could even think, the fox was running on all fours towards the two ZPD officers. Lips snarled all the way back as he let loose his most aggressive growl. The artic vixen's eyes focused on Nick's briefly, before they rolled up into her head. The two ZPD officers turned to face the growling they had just heard, and saw a dishevelled, furious, and possibly feral fox, running towards them at blinding speeds.

The shorter officer, who was a hippopotamus after all, reached out to point at Nick with his remote. Unfortunately for him, he was far too slow. The fox leapt at the two officers, intending to hurt them as much as possible. _Go for the device in his hand! If he pushes that button, I'm done for._ Nick thought. The fox quickly re-adjusted his angle mid-flight so that his jaws closed around the small plastic remote. Biting down with all of his strength, Nick crushed the device in his teeth.

The fox, meanwhile, had grabbed on to the hippo's arm with all four limbs and was doing it's best to claw the animal wherever it could. The hippo flailed about wildly, trying to dislodge the vicious fox. _The other one! It's got a remote too!_ Nick thought, and as he did so, the hippo flung his arms towards his partner, and the fox let go. Just on time to send it flying towards the larger mammal. _A rhinoceros. I hate it when I'm right._ Time seemed to slow for Nick while he was in the air. The fox prepared itself for landing, but Nick focused on his enemy. Located on his hip, the same place Judy kept her fox-repellant, was a small holster with the tame collar remote in it.

As the fox landed on the rhinoceros, Nick lashed out with his hind claws. Sharpened from his time in the wild and his lack of recent grooming habits, his claws easily severed the leather holster from the rhinoceros' belt. Again the fox went to work, viciously clawing at its target, trying to cause as much damage as possible. _Grab the remote!_ Nick thought, as the fox was flung from the rhino. Quickly, the fox rushed back towards its target, snarling and gnashing its teeth. As he ran past the remote, Nick quickly adjusted his course to pick up the remote and slip it into his pocket as he passed. The fox again leapt at the rhino, this time aiming for his face. _Watch out for Higgins_. Nick thought as, the fox clawed ferociously at the rhino's neck. Nick's ears picked up at the sound of a tranquilizer gun being withdrawn from its holster. Nick focused his ears as much as he could while the fox continued attacking. *Phoof* The fox quickly leapt directly into the air to avoid the shot, which hit the rhino directly in the throat.

Nick landed in front of the unconscious arctic vixen, turned to face the ZPD officers, and snarled at them, fangs bared, fur raised, and hate in his eyes.

"Shit." Said the hippo. "Horner, you ok buddy? Shit." Casting a hateful glance at the fox, the hippo lumbered towards the rhino. "Come on buddy, let's get you back home. We'll call some back up to deal with this savage. Ok?" The rhino leaned on the hippo as the tranquilizer dart started to take effect. Together, the two officers lumbered back to the patrol car. Nick stayed exactly where he was.

"We'll get you, fox. I can't wait to visit you in your cell tomorrow." Spat out the hippo as he entered the ZPD cruiser and drove off.

Once Nick was certain the two mammals had left, he turned back to the arctic vixen. She was quite pretty, with snow-white fur and no markings that Nick could see. She was trim, with a small bulge near her stomach that confirmed the fox's earlier thought. She was pregnant, probably around 25 days in, about half-way. Nick hoped the electric shock hadn't done anything to the fetus as he gently shook her awake.

The vixen's sky-blue eyes opened, slowly focusing on the red fox in front of her. After a brief moment for her mind to catch up, she scuttled away from Nick quickly. "Help! Savage! Please help!" She screamed, just as much afraid of Nick as she had been the two ZPD officers.

Nick raised his paws up. "Woah! Hey! Calm down, I'm not savage." He said, trying to flash a reassuring smile. At the sight of his bloody maw, the arctic vixen recoiled further away from him. Nick quickly hid his teeth behind his lips, trying to lick the blood off of them.

"Look." Nick licked his teeth again, not tasting any blood this time. "They're gone, for now. I scared them off, but they'll be calling in their buddies, so we have to go." Nick said as he walked towards the vixen. He extended a paw to offer her help back to her feet.

"T-Thanks." Said the vixen, an unsure smile quivering onto her face as she accepted his help to return to her feet.

"Glad I could help." Replied Nick. "But as I said, they'll come back, with more friends and more anger, so how about **we** be gone?"

"Yeah," replied the vixen shakily. "I'm Skye by the way. Skye Frost, thanks for saving me."

"Anytime." Replied Nick as he looked around the alleyway's corner, trying to spot any potential threats to their escape. "Actually, no, not anytime. Please don't make me do that again. It was terrifying."

Sky couldn't stop herself as she followed her obviously scared and cautious savior. She giggled. "You know, you're quite different now than you were when you attacked those two officers. I was terrified then, but you aren't really intimidating at all right now." She said as she continued to stand where she was.

"I guess there must be two different sides to me." Nick responded as he returned to Skye, wondering why she hadn't moved. "An inside, and an outside!" He responded to her questioning look.

Sky burst out into nervous laughter, the action helping her to let go of some of the immense stress from earlier that night.

"Hey, I'm not trying to stalk you or anything, but, did you have some place you were heading? It's probably best that we go now." Nick continued, still glancing about worriedly.

Skye let a knowing smirk cross her face, it was quite the seductive look on the vixen. "Actually, there was, but it's not out that way." She moved deeper into the alleyway. "If you're good, I suppose I could let an animal as wild as you…stalk me until I arrive."

"Wild, funny." Nick mused aloud as he followed her. "That's my name, by the way. Nick Wilde, at your service." Nick stopped as he saw her bending down over a manhole cover. As he got closer, he noticed she was trying to lift it.

"Stop! You can't do that! You're pregnant!" Nick almost yelled.

Skye dropped the cover she had just about lifted up in shock. "How did you know?" She yipped out, turning to face Nick. She wasn't even sure if her boyfriend knew yet.

"Call it a **Wilde** intuition." Nick intoned as he hooked his claws into the manhole cover. Nick was surprised by how little effort it took him to actually lift it. He had made a few escapes into the underbelly of Zootopia before, and it had always been very difficult to remove the entrances to those smelly havens.

"So what's this then? Some sort of secret passage? A hideout?" Nick half-joked as he stared into the abyss.

"Something like that." Skye said as she shimmied up to him. "Thanks again for saving me tonight." She said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek before quickly disappearing down the hole.

Nick stood in shock for a moment, not quite sure how to feel, and not sure how to respond.

"Are you coming?" Came the vixen's voice from below. The question shook Nick out of his reverie.

"Only if you ask politely." Nick responded in jest as he began climbing down the ladder, careful to replace the cover behind him.

As Nick descended the ladder, he felt something wrong. While it was pitch black like the sewers should be, it certainly didn't smell like any sewer he'd been in. Descending slowly so as not to step on Skye, his mind worried at where they were going. Suddenly his paws hit ground, and at the same moment, Skye's phone lit up, illuminating the surroundings.

As Nick's eyes adjusted to the light, he made out Skye facing a brick wall, unmoving. Fear started to rise in him at this new and unsettling scenario. He'd heard of mammals being lured by beautiful women only to have their organs stolen, or be killed and sold for meat, or worse. It would be just his luck for that to happen to him tonight.

"Hey Skye, uh, I think I might just go back." Nick turned to climb back up the ladder, senses alert to any unexpected actions from the vixen.

Nick's body jerked in an involuntary reaction at the loud sound of a click, followed by the grinding of stone on stone. Turning around he saw the entire wall that Skye was facing was withdrawing, showing a well lit corridor beyond. Skye turned to face him, her bright smile illuminating her face.

"Not what you expected is it Wilde?" Skye smirked at him. "Welcome to the Carnivorous Mushrooms."


	13. Chapter 7(B)

**Author's Note:**

See, still not dead!

If you want to read the story, scroll down until you see the line and the title.

If you want to read my rant/excuse for why this took so long, keep reading.

So first, I want to apologize for this chapter taking so long. All I can say is that the last few months have been pretty rough for me. As you might have guessed, I have been working a full-time job, commuting for an hour each way, while studying for the Bar exams.

Basically, my schedule has beeb 2 hours of driving, 9 hours of work, 1 hour of meal prep and eating, 1 hour of washing and grooming, 5 hours of non-stop studying for the bar exams, and 6 hours of sleep, every day for the last two months.

And to top it all off, the weekend before my last exam, our furnace died, and Canada is freaking cold!

Oh, and let's not forget that my Grandpa committed assisted suicide the week before my last exam as well.

Oh, and after my exams, I had to spend the next couple of weeks catching up on all my personal life aspects that I'd been neglecting (like my health, paying bills, maintaining relationships, etc.)

Fortunately for you guys, I still had time to plan where I want this story to go, and the next couple of chapters are going to be really exciting! I even tried improving my writing style for this chapter as preparation, including more descriptions of the various scenes. Let me know how you like it.

Finally, for those who are interested, One of my favorite book series is the "Sword of Truth" series by Terry Goodkind. Each book illustrates a philosophical principle highlighted as a "wizard's rule". Quite a good read if you like philosophy and fiction.

Insert copyright disclaimers here (re: Zootopia and Disney, Wizard's Sixth Rule and Terry Goodkind)

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 7 (B)**

J: I've been crawling in the dark / N: As your eyes start to blister

Skye smiled as she watched Nick's jaw drop. She loved the look of shock and wonder mammals always had when they first saw this entrance to the Carnivorous Mushroom's hideout. She had to admit, it was quite an impressive scene. From an inconspicuous sewer grate, down into what appeared to be a small room that led to the sewers on one side with a brick wall opposite that entrance. Yet behind that brick wall was a world of wonder…to most mammals anyways.

Having found the hidden switch and pressing it to open the wall, she could see Nick's face clearly as it was lit by the halogen lights behind her, and she relished in the reflected wonder in his eyes. She also admired the fact that she could see the brightly illuminated brick tunnel behind her reflected in his emerald green eyes. Not many mammals had eyes quite so clear and sharp.

It only took Nick a few seconds to get over the shock of seeing the secret entrance to the Carnivorous Mushroom's hideout. It was like something out of a Hyindeyna Bones movie, minus the bright white halogen lights of course. What surprised Nick was the fact that he hadn't known about this place before hand. There was too much that should have given the existence of a place like this away. Especially to a street savvy fox like himself. For one, if other entrances were like this, there would be at least a few sewer entrances with a seemingly out of place brick wall. They also had powered lighting, which means they had to be connected to the power grid somehow. Not to mention that such an elaborate set up meant a fair few sophisticated mammals had to have been involved in its construction, supply, and operation.

For a fox who knew everyone, Nick was feeling like he was quite out of the loop…or tunnel, so to speak.

Getting his jaw working again, he motioned Skye towards the entrance with his paw.

"Well, since, I appear to be in the dark, and you appear to be in the light, perhaps you would be so kind as to… illuminate my path?" He said.

Skye's icy-blue eyes sparkled and her grin got even wider as she appreciated his attempted word-play.

"Ooh, word-play, so you have some intelligence behind that pretty face." She teased in return.

"I have my moments." Nick responded coyly. _Best to keep her slightly underestimating me. I still don't know if I'm in friendly or hostile territory after all,_ he thought. _"Don't trust strange vixen who lead you down dark sewers" mama always told me. At least, I like to think she would have if she hadn't tried to kill me and commit suicide herself,_ Nick thought bitterly. Looking back at Skye he noticed her look of curiosity and realized his face had become crestfallen with his thoughts. Quickly he put on his most charming grin, a mask of course, but one of his best ones.

"Sorry, I seem to have gotten lost in the darkness for a bit there. Shall we go?"

Pondering the red fox's shifting emotions, Skye nodded her head silently and turned around. Realizing she was being rude, she offered the polite invitation before walking into the tunnel.

"Of course, follow me Wilde, You'll find this trip to be… illuminating."

"Ooh, word-play," Nick mimicked "I like."

Catching up the arctic vixen, Nick started asking questions about the things they passed, not merely to make small-talk, but also because he was genuinely curious about this hideout.

"So, that secret door, how's that work? It must be powered, but I didn't see any mechanisms, nor even cables like I do with the lights." He asked.

"The door actually isn't connected to the lights." Skye responded. She herself had been curious about the door, and thus now, had the answers to the questions she knew the other fox would ask.

"It's powered by an internal motor, which itself is powered through a copper coil placed against the wall to the sewers. On the other side of that wall is a water mill, of sorts, with magnets attached to various points such that the magnetic field is close enough to the wall to affect the copper coil. As the wheel turns, so too do the magnets, which in turn move the electrons through the copper coil and create a current that powers the door. The brick I pushed in to open the door is connected to a gear which completes the connection between the water wheel and the magnets. There's also a spring to push the brick back into place, which pulls the gear out from the contraption. When the brick is pushed in, the magnets turn, which creates power to move the wall, when the brick isn't being pushed, the magnets down turn, there's no power, and the wall slides back in to place."

As an engineer herself, Skye thought the system was quite old fashioned, but she appreciated its simplicity and obvious effectiveness.

"And the lights?" Nick questioned as they continued their journey. "How are you able to plug into the power grid without Zootopia Hydro and Energy catching on?"

"Z.H.E.?" Skye asked as she wondered how much she should tell the red fox at her side. "We don't use that nonsense. You're absolutely right that if we did, we'd be discovered for sure."

Nick was in shock, not using the grid meant that they had to be generating their own power, and much more than a few water wheels could produce.

"No…" Nick pondered aloud. "Don't tell me you're using Aethyr."

"You know about Aethyr!?" Skye looked at him, her eyes wide with shock.

"Of course. It's how we get our clean energy." Nick shrugged "Doesn't everyone know about Aethyr?"

"Few mammals do. Most are content knowing they have easy access to clean and cheap energy, not many care about how it's produced. How much do you know?" She asked, genuinely intrigued now by this mystery fox beside her.

"Not much." Nick admitted with a shrug. "I just know that it's a gas found in higher concentration around cities, and in pockets around the rest of the world. I also know that it has to be concentrated and refined before we can draw power from it, and that as far as we know, it is either limitless or renewable."

"Still more than most mammals though. Want to know more?" She asked, ears perked forward, eyes shining, and tail wagging with excitement. She would be so pleased to be able to show off her knowledge.

"Sure." Nick shrugged, seeing her genuine eagerness to tell him more and realizing it would be a great chance to endear himself to her. If he was entering hostile territory, it would be best to have at least one mammal who would vouch for him.

"Well, going back into history, we aren't sure why there's such a high concentration of Aethyr in Zootopia. It could be that high concentrations of mammals generate or attract Aethyr, or it could be that Aethyr's effects led to a higher concentration of more evolved and intelligent mammals in areas with a high concentration of Aethyr." Skye started, tail wagging contentedly as she entered her lecture mode.

"Aethyr, after all, has the tendency to increase intelligence, neuron firing speed, and brain size in mammals who are exposed concentrated amounts of it. Although that is not without risks, as some mammals exposed to too much end up dying from the neurological overload, or the brain swelling, or both."

"Wait, wait wait!" Nick exclaimed, suddenly alarmed. "You're telling me that we're all walking around in potentially deadly gasses?"

"No!" Skye laughed. "Not quite, the effects are only observed when exposed to concentrated amounts of Aethyr. Nothing like what is found naturally." She responded, seeing Nick settle down, she decided to give him a small shock so she could enjoy his reaction again. "Unless you live around nighthowlers." She added.

"Nighthowlers?" Nick asked, his entire attention now focused on Skye. Nighthowlers were what Manchez had been talking about…before going savage. If Skye knew anything about what the mysterious nighthowlers were, it could be useful.

"Yeah, midnicampum holicithias." Skye replied. Still seeing a blank, yet curious look on Nick's face, she continued. "It's a plant commonly used as a bug repellant. Not many know but, it's actually the only known natural source of concentrated Aethyr."

Seeing Nick's look of curiousity hadn't changed a bit, Skye continued, quite happy to explain to this wonderfully curious fox.

"Basically, the reason it works as a bug repellent is because it seems to gather Aethyr, mix it with a compound that works as a catalyst, removing excess energy from the Aethyr electrons, allowing it to concentrate it and storing it in their bulb. The compound is then either released from the bulb or flows up the plant's xylem and into the petals where it is released as a gas that is concentrated enough that the enhanced neuron firing kills all small insects nearby. That's why it's used as a natural insecticide." Skye explained, quite pleased at the look of shock on Nick's face.

"The reason they are called night howlers actually comes from their need to use energy from sunlight to release the gas from their petals. Without the sun, the gas instead escapes through the bulb of the plant an into the dirt. For some reason, this creates tubes in the dirt leading to the surface that create a howling sound when the gas escapes them. Thus, nighthowlers."

Nick was intrigued, a gas that increases neuron firing, to an extent that it can even kill small insects, that occurred naturally, and that Manchez and Otterton both seemed to think was connected to the savage mammals, before going savage themselves. He needed to know more.

"But that's not all Aethyr does, after all, we can extract energy from it right?" He asked, hoping to spur the volunteering of more information from this verbal vixen.

"Oh, that's even more interesting!" Skye exclaimed happily. "You know about the multi-verse theory, right?" She looked at him quizzically.

"The idea that there are infinite universes, each slightly different, that operate parallel, but separate from our own?" Nick asked. Now just as engaged in the conversation as Skye was.

"Yeah, well, the theory is that Aethyr acts as a conduit between those universes, and in highly concentrated amounts, can actually connect the universes to each other for brief moments. That's the sane bit of Aethyr-Power theory though. Some leading theorists believe that the connection itself generates energy which we then harness, others think that it is the souls of dead or dying mammals in other universes that come through the connection to provide power here." She looked at Nick through the corner of her eye, hoping to see how he reacted to one of the zanier theories she'd heard.

Nick just kept walking, absorbing every bit of information he could.

Sighing internally to herself at his lack of reaction, Skye continued. "The truth of the matter is, we don't know why, but concentrated Aethyr leads to some incredibly weird occurrences in it's vicinity, often bending the very laws of physics, mathematics, all scientific theory actually. The only event that seems to happen reliably is that it energizes the air molecules around it, creating heat, wind, and occasionally light, all of which we can harness and turn in to energy."

Skye and Nick continued on in silence for about thirty seconds. Seconds in which Nick absorbed and processed all the new information he'd received, and reflected on how it had most certainly affected and how he'd not noticed. Skye, merely watched the strange, yet obviously intelligent fox beside her.

Finally, Nick, finished processing and turned to Skye. "So how do you know all this?" he asked. "Are you, Aethyr scientist or something? How do you even get to study something like that."

Skye's mood soured a bit at the memories that question brought up. "In Zootopia. You don't. Predators aren't allowed to study Aethyr in Zootopian higher education. But I come from Canida, the population there is mostly canines and my parents were Aethyr scientists from before I was even born. You could say it's in my genes to be an Aethyr scientist, but, given our current predicament, I'd say I'm more of an Aethyr engineer."

"Aethyr engineer," Nick mused, completely missing Skye's changed mood. His tail swished silently as he tried to puzzle out what message Skye was trying to convey when she told him that she was an engineer and not a scientist.

Realization suddenly dawned on Nick as he realized the difference between engineer and scientist. "Wait. That means you…you built the power system the Carnivorous Mushrooms use!?" He asked, eyes wide with shock.

"That's right Wilde, You're looking at one of Zootopia's best minds in Aethyr related production, concentration and engineering. You're not intimidated, are you?" She asked grinning broadly at him.

 _Impressed certainly, but no. Not intimidated._ "Just a little, please don't blow up my head with deadly gasses." He replied with an obviously fake laugh.

Skye giggled as she elbowed Nick lightly in the ribs. "You charmer. I have a boyfriend you know."

"I know, and I'm sure your kits will be beautiful." Nick replied absent mindedly as he returned to puzzling out the connection between savage mammals and nighthowlers. _There might not even be a connection. It might simply be a coincidence, or superstition, or something unrelated._

Skye froze on the spot, her smile replaced by a look of shock as her ears flattened against her head. "How do you know about the kit?" She asked warily.

Nick had to crank his neck to look back at her, curious as to why she stopped. "I can hear two heartbeats besides my own, I can smell your hormones going crazy, and I can see a slight bulge on your belly." He replied matter-of-factly.

 _I didn't tell anyone about the kit, not even Sunny knows!_ Skye thought to herself. _That means he's either telling the truth, or he had some other way of knowing, and considering we only just met…wow, his senses must be incredible!_ She continued to eye Nick warily as she hoped her scrutiny would lead to a confession. Nick just kept looking at her, as nonchalant as can be. After a time, his look turned to confusion at her continued wariness.

"Is that unusual?" Nick asked.

"Yes. For most mammals, it is." Skye replied.

"Well, I'm not most mammals." Nick smirked back at her, and grinning just enough to show off a few teeth, he continued. "I'm a little more…wild!" Nick yelled the last word out, loud enough to make Skye jump before adopting a goofy grin and turning around to hide his chuckle.

Caught between surprise, fear, and amusement at Nick's antics, Skye relieved her tension the only way she could. She laughed.

* * *

Judy couldn't believe how lucky she was. She had found Nick! He was just walking through the carrot festival, paw in paw with an arctic vixen. Judy noted with some jealousy that she seemed to be enjoying herself, all excitement and childish energy, bubbling over at every little delight the festival offered. The vixen was dragging Nick around from stall to stall, sampling delicate tidbits of each ware, her pretty tail waging happily and her joy apparent with every expression that shone on her face.

Conversely, Nick didn't seem all too enthralled. Sure he kept his eyes on the vixen, and he kept a polite smile on his face, he even made the appropriate reactions when she tried to get him excited about one thing or another. Yet, Judy could tell that these expressions were all faked, just like his condescending smirk when she initially met him.

The arctic vixen moved off to examine the wares of yet another tent, this one selling carrot-themed gadgets. As she did, Nick took the opportunity to look around, his smile dropping from his face. It was then that he noticed Judy standing in the shade offered by the large oak tree beside her. Judy watched as his face lit up with a genuine smile as Nick recognized her. Judy had only seen Nick smile genuinely a few times, and a good thing too as it set her little rabbit heart a-flutter.

Feeling like a nervous school-doe, Judy smiled at Nick and waved him over. As she did, she watched Nick's expression change from joy to fear. Not faked fear either, but real terror. Judy recognized it as it was probably the first real expression she had seen on the fox's face. Nick had worn that look when they were examining Mr. Big's limousine in Tundra town. At that time the fox had been terrified that they were about to be killed or tortured. The look of pure terror on his face, his loss of composure, and rash actions had made Judy realize for the first time that Nick wasn't just some smug city-fox that enjoyed being a jerk to a poor country bunny. At this time, she had realized that Nick often hid his true emotions.

That same look of terror was on Nick's face now, and Judy watched frozen in place, her heart beating faster for a whole new reason now, too terrified to turn and face whatever had scared Nick. As she stood there, she heard a sound and watched Nick's expression turn from one of terror to one of agony, and from agony to anger, and from anger, to unbridled rage.

Judy watched, unable to move her legs and run, spellbound, as Nick slowly lowered himself to all fours, ears pinned against his head, his lips curling in on themselves, fur bristling at his neck and tail, and his eyes narrowing while his pupils expanded to nearly cover his beautiful green irises.

Judy recognized the signs of a savage mammal, yet she still could not make herself run. She tried to run, she tried to scream, she tried to cry, yet she could do nothing. The savage fox leapt at her all fur and fangs and claws.

*BANG*

Suddenly, Nick was on the ground in front of her, unmoving, blood soaking the ground underneath him. The next thing Judy saw, was darkness.

Heart pounding, breathing heavily, and fighting the urge to scream, Judy quickly realized that she was lying in her bed. Judy understood that it must have been a nightmare, yet even knowing that none of it was real, she could not quell the very real fear that kept her rabbit-heart racing.

Deciding that she needed a cup of carrot tea to relax before she could return to sleep, she untangled herself from her covers and hopped onto the floor. Judy took slow and measured steps to make sure she didn't wake any of her numerous brothers and sisters, _and probably nieces and nephews by now_ she thought. As she reached the kitchen, Judy saw that the light was already on and her ears picked out a quiet whimpering coming from within.

The first thing Judy noticed upon entering the kitchen was the smell of carrot muffins. The second thing was none other than Gideon nursing his paw, with one tray of said muffins scattered across the floor. Judy rushed over to her friend as she realized what must have happened.

"Gideon! Are you alright? Did you burn yourself?" Judy asked in a loud whisper.

Gideon just whimpered and held out his paw for her to inspect. Judy didn't even need to rub the sleep from her eyes to see his paw pads were already turning an angry shade of red and beginning to swell.

"Oh Gideon, quick, we have to get this under cold water" she said as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him over to the sink. Turning on the tap and making sure the water was cold before she put his paw under it, Judy instructed Gideon to hold his paw under the water while she got out an ice pack. Gideon just whimpered quietly.

Once Judy found one of the larger of the many ice packs the Hops family kept in the freezer, she wrapped it in a dish clothe and then tied the whole thing around Gideon's hand. She led him to the table and sat him down at it, telling him to stay there while she cleaned up.

"There's more." Gideon managed to whisper through his whimpers. Judy's ears picked out his words just fine.

"More what Gideon?" She asked from her squatting position as she wiped the last of the carrot muffin off of the floor.

"More m'ffins." Gideon said. "Muffins." He repeated more clearly.

Looking at the Hops' overly large oven, Judy noted that there was indeed more muffins. Gideon had made twelve batches, enough for every Hops member to have one for breakfast, two for the older family members.

"Oh Gideon." Judy whispered as she got out a pair of oven mitts. As she pulled out the muffin trays and set them on a cooling rack, Judy had to fight back tears at how sweet her childhood bully had become.

"Ah wanted ta do somethin' ta thank your family." Gideon said, struggling to get the words out. Whether he was fighting whimpers, tears, or even just his own mind to find the words, Judy couldn't tell. Perhaps it was all three.

"Fer takin' me in an all. Expecial…Especially now."

"Thank you Gideon, it is a wonderful gift." Judy said, laying one paw on his unburnt one. It was a small comfort, but Gideon seemed to appreciate it all the same.

Suddenly, Gideon's ears perked up and he looked at Judy worriedly.

"Ah didn' wake ya did ah?" He asked, looking almost fearful that he had.

Giggling a little, Judy responded "You did, but I'm very glad you did. I was having a nightmare."

"Ah'm sorry Judy. Ah mean, Ah'm not sorry. Ah mean, Ah'm sorry you were havin' a nightmare." Gideon may have stumbled over his words, but Judy understood and appreciated his kindness.

"Thanks Gideon." She replied, but then her mind went back to Gideon's burnt paw.

"What happened to you? How'd you burn yourself?" She asked. Judy was surprised when her question caused tears to well up in Gideon's eyes.

"Ah was bakin' an' Ah forgot how many batches Ah made, so Ah went to check. And, and then when ah checked it took me a bit ta count. Ah know ah counted thirteen batches, but ah kept thinking ah had only made eight. So ah kept counting. And then ah realized they were done an ah had ta get 'em out of the oven. Ah coulda sworn ah had mitts on, but when ah grabbed the first tray, ah felt it burn." Gideon said, crying fully this time.

"Ah knew ah should let go. And…and ah felt it b-burn. But ah couldn' let go. An' then the tray just fell."

Gideon turned from staring at his paws to looking straight at Judy, which prompted her to look directly into his tear-soaked eyes.

"Judy, ah can' think straight anymore. Ah think things that aren' true, an' ah know they aren' but ah think them anyways. An' ah think it's getting' worse." Gideon whispered. "Ah'm scared Judy. Ah'm really sacred."

Judy's heart broke for her friend. She'd known Gideon was struggling ever since he got the collar. In fact, they'd talked about it earlier that morning, before she returned to work. But she hadn't truly appreciated how much he was struggling, nor how terrifying it must be to understand that something was wrong with your mind, yet be unable to do anything about it.

Judy tried to think, she had no training in this field, no studies in psychology or neurology, or medicine. She had received basic training in how to handle mammals in shock, or suffering panic attacks, but not in how to deal with mental degradation. Judy cast about mentally for something to say to comfort the fox beside her.

Deciding that a fox would best know how to comfort a fox, she tried to channel what she knew of Nick and imagined how he would respond. Finally coming up with a response, she turned to Gideon and spoke slowly and softly.

"Gideon. It's ok. We'll take this one step at a time. Things may be different, they may change, and get harder, but you will survive this." She said.

"Thanks Judy, but ah'm still scared. Ah can' even tell what's real sometimes." Gideon replied quietly, yet apparently having calmed down a little.

Still trying to respond as she thought Nick might, judy replied "That's ok Gid, we'll take it one step at a time. Start with your senses. What you feel, what you hear, what you see. The first law of reason is this: what exists, exists; what is, is; and from this irreducible bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. Ignore what your mind is telling you. Start from what you can sense and build up your understanding of the world from there."

 **(borrowed from Terry Pratchet's _Faith of the Fallen_ , from the Sword of Truth series)**

Gideon sat in pensive silence, alone with his thoughts and otherwise dead to the world. Noticing this, Judy got up and began to make that carrot tea she had originally intended to make. It wasn't until she had finished and was about to wish Gideon a good night when he spoke again.

"Thanks Judy. Ah'll remember that. Ah promise." Gideon said solemnly.

"You're welcome Gideon." Judy said softly "There's an extra mug of carrot tea on the counter if you want it. Just remember not to hold it in your burnt paw." Judy gave Gideon a quick hug to comfort him before she left the kitchen and returned to bed, silently vowing that once she found Nick, she would bring him here and they would see how they could help Gideon.


	14. Chapter 7(C)

**Author's Note:**

Abra-ca-copyright disclaimer!

Ok, you guys lucked out. Honestly, I wanted to add a lot more to this chapter, but I felt rude making you wait for it. Also, the ending just seemed like a good spot to stop. If I'd continued you may have been left at a non-emotional note, and that's just no way to keep you on the hook!

As always, please rate and review, criticize, comment, anything.

Oh, and let me know if you prefer 4-6k word chapters every two weeks or 8-10k every 3. I can do either or...probably.

Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 7 (C)**

J: I've been crawling in the dark / N: As your eyes start to blister

"Here we are!" exclaimed Skye happily.

"Where? The hallway of mushrooms?" Nick asked, only half joking. He could see that cement-walled hallway they were in now held multiple doors on each side, but he was too tired to speculate on what they were for. As far as he could tell, he'd been up for over 18 hours now, and it was likely morning above ground now, which was a problem for his newly nocturnal life-style. He was not looking forward to the orientation and likely hazing that he suspected he was about to be subjected to.

"No, silly, your sleeping quarters!" Skye chirped.

Nick's ear made the slightest twitch in her direction. _How is she still so cheerful?_ He thought, noting that even if Skye hadn't been awake for as long as he had been, she had been active, electrocuted, walking for at least as long as he had been, and she was pregnant. _Wait, did she say sleep?_

"You looked pretty beat to me, so I figured you could use a nap before I showed you around the place." Skye said as she opened a nearby door.

Nick could only barely hear her. Past the now open doorway was a tiny room with carpeted flooring, and a small mattress with bedsheets on it that smelled freshly laundered. Even the walls looked inviting as they were either covered in a wooden façade or made of actual wood. To Nick, it was the sight of heaven.

"…and I still have to report to Big Red, then after that I have to check on our generators. Oh! I should also find out what stage orientation is on." Skye glanced sideways at Nick, noting that he was focused solely on the mattress in front of him. "Look, I'll come get you in about eight hours. Until then, just stay here and rest up. It's going to be a busy night for you tonight."

Skye walked out of the room and reached back in to close the door. With the door still open a crack, Skye popped her head back in.

"Oh, and one more thing. These doors don't lock, so if you have anything valuable that you don't want stolen, I suggest you sleep on it." She winked at him before removing her head and closing the door all the way.

* * *

"Skye. Glad to see you're back. How did your visit with Mr. Big go? Any word on a cure for mammals who go savage?" Came the boisterous voice of a large, and old, male red fox.

"Thank you sir! Mr. Big said that his scientists have not yet discovered a cure, but his spies have heard rumors of a lab run by sheep that claims to be close. However, he said it will be some time before he can find out for sure as any spy he sends to the lab ends up disappearing." Reported Skye, her body and mind on full alert.

"Interesting, we shall eagerly await his results. And what news did Mr. Big have on production of the Tame Collars and their remote activators?"

"Production of the Tame Collars has slowed. Almost every predator in Zootopia is wearing one by now. However, production of the remote activators has increased dramatically. Mr. Big agrees with your theory that the prey in charge are preparing for a civil war."

"Damn." Swore the red fox. "And if there is such a war, will the rodents of Tundra Town and Little Rodentia fight with the predators? Or the prey?"

"Mr. Big stated, and I quote 'The rodents are sympathetic to the struggles of predators, as every rodent knows it is not the size or shape of a mammal that is threatening, but how they choose to use their bodies. A careless sheep is a bigger threat to a small rodent than a careful lion. While rodents have historically been both predators and prey, the insects they preyed on do not yet threaten their existence. However, rodents operate today as predators in more ways than one. The rodents will stand with the predators.'" Skye took in a deep breath. It was hard to mimic Mr. Big's wheezy voice while speaking such long sentences.

The old fox smiled. "I am glad to hear that. If the prey truly are preparing for civil war by use of those damned Tame Collars and remotes, we will need all the help we can get, especially from mammals who have been ignored so far."

Skye's tail and nose twitched nervously. "Speaking of which, has Sonny come back from his trip to the Pride Lands yet?" She asked, carefully hiding her eagerness.

"Not yet my dear. But it is a long trip, and depending on how long he must wait for the counsel of lionesses, it could be a few days yet before he returns." Replied the red fox kindly. "Now, if you have no more questions, I'd like you to check on the generators before getting some rest yourself."

"Well, it's not really a question…" began Skye nervously. "but I did sort of, bring a new member to the Carnivorous Mushrooms." Skye's ears pinned against her head as she looked nervously towards the red fox, expecting an angry response.

Instead, the red fox regarded her levelly. "You know how I feel about gaining new members without the proper introductions" he spoke slowly. After a moment of silence, he continued "so why?"

"I was sort of ambushed by two ZPD officers outside of the entrance. They were using their remotes to set off my Tame Collar." The red fox's face softened. "and suddenly this handsome red fox came out of nowhere. I pretended to faint, and he fought them off, on his own, before they could activate his collar."

"Impressive. I would like to meet this fox. For now, I want you to show him around tomorrow, give him the proper initiation tour, he can join the afternoon's class, they're only on their third day of initiation anyways." Mused the red fox to himself. Realizing Skye was still there, he looked her in the eye. "What was this fox's name?" he asked.

"It is quite the fitting name sir. His name is Wilde." Skye said slowly, having forgotten the fox's first name.

Skye considered herself an observant mammal, she had to be in order to be an Aethyr engineer, and one of the top operatives of the Carnivorous Mushrooms. Yet even she was unsure if the look that flashed across the old fox's face was one of surprise or not.

"Wilde. Thank you Skye, you may leave now."

Skye performed a tight bow, it wasn't necessary of course but Skye felt it an appropriate way to show her respect for the old fox she affectionately called Big Red, and left the fox's office.

"Achar. I want you to go to the new recruit's quarters. Find this red fox, and search him. If he has a stone tablet on him, I want it brought directly to me. You are to leave everything else where you find it." Spoke Big Red quietly towards a corner close to the door.

A rat poked his head out of a small hole in the wall by that corner. "Bang-on boss. Find fox, take tablet, leave loot." He said before scurrying off.

* * *

The world was a cacophony of high-pitched squeals, grunts, thuds, and shouts of indignation. Judy kept her face hidden behind her paw as she sighed in exasperation. Chief Snoots had been better than her word and upon seeing Judy's list of items for the officer's training course, had recognized Judy's intent to replicate the course at the police academy, and had set it up for Judy. If only the rabbit officers could have been so accommodating.

Her morning course had gone off without a hitch, most of the experienced officers demonstrated that they still had the ability to perform the obstacle courses smoothly. Particularly, Judy was impressed by Jack's show of ingenuity and forethought. The striped jackrabbit had even beaten some of Judy's records from the academy.

What impressed Judy though, was how he'd done it. For example, instead of jumping off his fellow officers to climb the ice wall, as Judy had done, Jack had quickly taken out his tranquilizer darts and held one in each paw as he proceeded to climb the wall. Normally this would have been a slow approach, except he would hang from his paws while he placed both feet against the wall, then he would kick off the wall, using his forepaws as a fulcrum and swinging around until his outward momentum became upwards momentum before pulling the two darts out of the wall. At the peak of his leap, he would plunge the darts back into the wall and hang from his paws while he positioned his feet for the next leap. In this way, he flew up the wall at the same speed Judy had, only without having to wait for his fellow officers to get in to position first.

Smiling the jackrabbit had come up to her and asked if he'd beaten her time. Surprised, Judy had checked his time and found that he only came up two seconds short. Judy had asked Jack how he knew about her time and he had slyly replied "it's good to learn as much as you can about your superiors." Judy realized that this meant he probably knew of her method of scaling the wall and asked Jack why he hadn't done as she had. His response had impressed her greatly.

"Two reasons. The first being the point of these drills. We've already passed academy training, so you know we can complete them. And it wasn't about speed as the Z.P.D.s test only requires that we be above a certain minimum. Thus, the purpose of these drills could only be about our creativity in approaching the challenge. Since I already knew of your method, using it would betray the purpose of this drill. I had to come up with my own method instead. The second reason, is that these officers are my comrades. If I show that I view them as objects to be used, how do you think they would feel about me in the field? Would they trust me? Would they be willing to assist me? To follow my strategies? The risk wasn't worth taking just to score well in an area that wasn't even being tested during a practice exercise."

Judy gave him top marks.

The stark contrast between Jack's performance, and that of the novice class was what was exasperating Judy so much. While she hadn't expected the newer officers to be at Jack's level, she had expected them to at least be capable of meeting the basic requirements, as she had. Due to the advantages of being a bunny, mainly being able to communicate freely with the other rabbits in Bunny Burrows without frightening them, the rabbit officers needn't be physically exceptional but they should at least meet the minimum requirements.

Instead, she found that most of them had been given their position simply because they were rabbits. Many of them were having difficulties completing the obstacle courses at all, much less with a good time, or creatively. Simply thinking about the training she would have to come up with to get these officers up to par was giving her a headache.

Fortunately, such thinking was quickly put to an end by Chief Snoots. The elephant glanced at the newbies (truly, they had earned the descriptor) with contempt as she watched one rabbit slide down from nearly the top of the wall and take out three others beneath him as he fell. Snoots snorted, before turning her attention back to Judy.

"Officer Hopps, I've got Chief Bogo on the line in my office. He says he needs to speak to you privately. I'll look after these morons until you're done. Don't be long." Chief Snoots said as she turned around and glared at the new officers.

Judy ran quickly to Chief Snoots' office, wondering why Bogo would ask to speak to her privately.

* * *

Nick awoke to the feeling of something jostling his fur. In panic, he froze for the briefest of moments until he recalled Skye's warning. Realizing he was being searched, he settled down again with a mental chuckle. He didn't have anything to steal except for the cellphone given to him by Bogo. Nick pretended to be asleep while he noted the animal's technique. It must have been a small mammal, probably a rodent, and they were very good at searching him without moving him too much. If Nick hadn't been awoken by his more…primal senses, he probably wouldn't have awakened at all.

Nick felt the rodent find his cellphone and waited, ready to pounce on the mammal if it tried to steal it. While it probably wasn't worth very much, a phone with a direct line to the chief of police was probably a dangerous thing to have around here. _He may not even be after the phone. Wait and see, you can learn a lot more by pretending to be asleep until you find out what he's after_.

As luck would have it, the rodent was not after his phone, leaving it in his pocket after briefly identifying it. _Interesting, so what are they looking for?_ Nick felt the rodent find its way to his other pocket. _Shit! That's the one with the Tame Collar Remote!_ From the rodent's sudden stiffness, they must have realized the same thing. Nick stifled a laugh as he heard the barest whisper of a swear from the rodent before it quickly stumbled back.

A few seconds later, and the rodent had completed its search and, having not found whatever it was looking for, left Nick's room.

 _That was…interesting. They didn't take anything, so either I didn't have what they were looking for, or that was some strange form of security check. No, can't be a security check, otherwise they would have at least looked through the phone. So…someone's looking for something and they thought I might have it, yet the only mammals who know I'm here are myself, and Skye…and whoever else she might have told about me, obviously. Well, nothing I can do about it now._

Having settled the issue in his mind, and knowing he could do nothing about it for now, Nick allowed himself to return to the blissful oblivion that was sleep.

* * *

"Officer Hopps! I expressly forbade you from returning to Zootopia!" Came Chief Bogo's aggravated yell through the telephone receiver in front of Judy.

Judy stood on Chief Snoots' desk, the phone receiver layed out in front of her, as she stood over the mouthpiece to the phone.

"Actually sir, you simply assigned me to this post. You never said I couldn't go to Zootopia on my free time." She corrected before she could stop herself. She should have known from the Chief's voice that he was worried about something, and she was just adding fuel to the fire.

"I don't care!" The Chief yelled back, the concussion from the speaker visibly blasting Judy's fur away from her face. "You are not to return to Zootopia until the moment you show up to testify against that elephant, and when you do, it will be under an armed escort! Do I make myself clear!"

 _An armed escort? That's way over the top!._ "Chief. What's going on?" Judy asked cautiously. "You know I can take care of myself, don't forget that I took down quite a few savage mammals both on my own and in a team, I solved the missing mammals case, I was top of my class at the academy. Why do I need an escort? And how did you know I was in Zootopia?"

Judy could hear the Chief take a large breath, then she heard nothing. Judy waited.

After a few moments, Judy opened her mouth to ask if Chief Bogo was still there when he replied. "Didn't forget, just don't care." The Chief's voice was audibly calmer this time, coming across as more tired and concerned than angry. "Look, Judy, one of my officers saw you on the train last night. Honestly, you returning to Zootopia didn't really concern me."

"Then why…" Judy began before she was interrupted.

"What does concern me is that the officer noted that you were being followed. There was a black sheep at the back of the car that was watching you like a hawk. The officer was concerned so she reported it to me and I asked her to follow the sheep. Judy, you were followed the entire night."

"So? I was followed, what's the big deal? Pretty young doe such as myself probably gets followed all the time." Judy replied in a jovial tone. She winced as it sounded fake even to her ears. The Chief snorted on the other end of the line.

"It's a big deal because you are going to testify at the trial of Snobin Thicke, the elephant accused of murdering Edward Wile. The entire case hinges upon your testimony, and Thicke has some friends in high places. You're going to testify in three days, no matter what it takes."

"Yes! Certainly I'll be there, without a doubt." Judy assured the Chief.

"Because you will arive with an armed escort, and I'll be driving you personally." Continued the Chief, talking over Judy as if he hadn't heard her.

"Chief, why are you driving, won't it be easier to have an escort from Bunny Burrows using one of their squad cars?" Judy asked, wondering why the Chief would waste so much time just to pick her up.

"I need the stress relief." Came the gruff response from the Chief.

"Uh…yes sir." Judy replied unsteadily.

"Oh, and one more thing. My officer reported that you were searching for Mr. Wilde. Until we catch the mammals stalking you, you are forbidden from looking for Nicholas."

Judy's heart hammered in her chest as her fear rose. Her ears, which had been relaxed over her back, shot to attention. She couldn't let the Chief stop her, not when she was so close.

"Sir, I have to, I'm so close! I even found his suitcase! Please, you have to let me keep looking!" Judy pleaded with the Chief.

Judy's desperation came across in her voice so clearly that even Yax the yak would have noticed, and so did the Chief. Slowly, deliberately, he answered Judy's prayer. "I will give you one night. If you can't find him tonight, you will bring me his suitcase, I will set my best detective on finding him, and you will give up. You will go with Ella."

Judy physically felt the relief wash over her as she processed what she was being told. She hadn't known how important finding Nick had been to her until Chief Bogo had threatened to take that away.

"Thank you sir." Judy managed to get out as she wiped a tear from her eyes. "May I ask who Ella is?"

A deep, throaty chuckle came from the other end of the receiver. "Oh, That's Chief Snoots to you, Isobella Snoots. Isobella Fantoline Snoots." The Chief hung up.

* * *

Judy eyed the new officers as she crossed the training field to Chief Snoots. She was surprisingly proud to note that roughly half of them had successfully completed the course and were currently cheering on their fellow officers.

A group of roughly eight rabbits were currently in a pyramid formation at the base of the ice wall, trying to support their allies as they climbed up to reach the top. As the pyramid reached a height of 4 rabbits, they started to struggle to stand up.

 _I guess it's a lot harder when you don't have larger mammals to jump off of._ Judy thought to herself.

Judy watched as rabbits at the bottom lost their strength and the tottering tower tumbled down

 _Hey Judy, how do you describe an eight foot tall tower of unbalanced bunnies?_ Judy imagined Nick asking her. _Hare-raising!_ Judy scoffed at the horrible pun. It was probably something Nick would say too. _What, was my pun really that…hare-ibble?_ Judy fought to keep her face straight. _I can't believe I'm imagining Nick taunting me like this._ She thought as she put on a slight huff. _Aww, are you getting ear-ittated?_ Nick's voice teased her.

Judy couldn't help herself as she smiled at the puns she imagined Nick making. That smile quickly disappeared, however, when she saw the look on Chief Snoots' face as she spoke with officer Savage.

"Judy, good, you're back. Officer Savage just got a call from Carrot-Top high, a gang of students are beating up one of the other students. Their teacher does not want to get involved. You and Savage go split them up."

Judy barely had enough time to get out a "Yes ma'am!" as she raced after Jack, who had begun sprinting towards the parking lot where the police cruisers were waiting.

Following Jack, she watched as he approached a medium-sized cruiser. In one fluid motion, Jack leapt over the roof of the car, grabbed the handle to the driver's side door and opened it as he landed in a crouch, then sprung backwards into the vehicle, rotating slightly in the air to land on the seat and facing the steering wheel. Not one to be out-done, Judy motioned for Jack to roll down the window as she approached. He did so, and she leapt through the open window on the passenger's side, feet first and grabbing the roof with her paws as she sailed in to halt her momentum. Judy landed squarely in the passenger's seat and looked at Jack as she strapped on her seatbelt.

Jack merely smiled and began driving as soon as she had her belt on. The tires screeched on the road as they tried to catch a grip.

"Impressive manouvre." Jack said as he drove.

"You too." Judy replied. Jack kept driving, his focus on getting to the school as quickly as possible.

"So, do you have family at Carrot-Top high?" Judy asked.

Jack turned the car sharply, tires screeching so loudly that Judy had to cover her ears.

"Doesn't everybody?"

"Fair enough."

"How's the newbies' training going?"

Another turn. Another screech.

"Honestly, it's pretty bad. Only half of them even made it over the wall. I know we're rabbits, so we don't have the advantages of raw strength and size, but I had expected them to make up for it with creativity." Judy sighed.

Jack snorted, his eyes never leaving the road. "so they need some creativity training? Good luck with that."

Judy's ears went to attention as she relished the chance to vent. "I know right? I mean, I have a few plans but…"

"We're here." Jack interrupted, drifting the car until it stopped perfectly in front of a large, three-story, orange-bricked highschool. The roof was, predictably, painted green.

Judy's ears dropped at the interruption, but they perked right up again as she heard the muted sounds of fur-covered flesh hitting fur-covered flesh amongst the cacaphony of children screaming. She bolted out of the car.

"Hurry! They're in the back!" She called to Jack behind her as she raced around the building and towards the back yard of the school. As Judy rounded the corner of the building, she saw a small crowd of younger mammals crowded around a full-grown pig wringing her hooves and worriedly watching a writhing bundle of bunnies that were out on the soccer field.

"Officer Hopps! ZPD! Break it up!" She yelled as loudly as she could while she raced towards the bunnies. Most of the bunnies backed off from the poor mammal sprawled on the ground. Some of them with looks of surprise, some with shame, and surprisingly, some with anger and frustration. One rabbit gave one last kick at the mammal on the ground, Judy winced as the poor mammal cried out from the force of the blow.

"Stop!" Judy yelled as that rabbit ran off. Judy wanted to run after him, to bring him to justice, but the mammal lying on the ground in pain was more important. _An officer's primary objective is to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty._ Judy approached the mammal curled up on the ground, recognizing it as a young rabbit.

*fwwwwp*

Judy turned to the sound and saw the rabbit who ran lying on the ground, a tranquilizer dart in his thigh, and Jack rounding the corner with a smirk on his face. Nodding her thanks, she turned back to the rabbit on the ground.

Judy surmised that the attack must have been a brutal one. The rabbit on the ground was barely conscious. While it was curled up in a tight ball, Judy could already tell that it had at least three broken bones, bruises, and multiple lacerations from the nails on the assailants' feet. The poor rabbit's clothes were barely recognizable as such.

"Shh, it's ok little one, I'm here now." Judy soothed as she reached out to the rabbit. The rabbit merely whimpered and shuddered at her touch. Judy's heart broke.

"Judy," Jack gulped upon seeing the state of the rabbit, "the paramedics are here now. She needs to be taken to a hospital."

Judy stepped to the side, allowing the paramedics full access to the injured rabbit. While the paramedics performed first aid, applied splints, and checked the young rabbit's vitals, Judy stayed by her side, stroking her ears in the same way that comforted most young rabbits.

Once the rabbit was loaded in to the ambulance, Judy moved to join her inside the ambulance but was stopped by a young lamb.

"Officer, I'm so sorry, but you can't come. She's in pretty rough shape and will need at least two paramedics treating her on the way to the hospital. We don't have enough room." The lamb told Judy.

Judy could tell from her voice that the poor lamb was rather new to her job, and was visibly upset by the condition of the young rabbit. "I understand, you're just doing your best to look after her. Please, make sure she gets the treatment she needs." Judy replied softly.

"Yes officer, I promise." Replied the lamb solemnly.

Judy watched as the ambulance doors closed, and the paramedics drove off to Bunny Burrow's hospital. She took a moment to collect herself, then turned towards the gang of young rabbits who Jack had corralled into remaining, mostly by threatening to tranquilize anyone who had participated in the assault if they attempted to run off.

As Judy turned to face the young assailants, her ears flattened sharply across her back, her eyes narrowed in anger, and her amethyst eyes turned harder than diamonds and flashed with the lightning of her fury.

"Would someone care to explain, what the horseradish that was about?" Judy quietly gritted out as she glared daggers at the rabbits lined up in front of her.

For a moment, none of the other rabbits dared speak. Finally, one of the larger rabbits spoke up with a defiant look on her face.

"We were only trying to help her." She said in a tone that suggested she thought that was obvious.

That answer was the wrong answer as it clearly infuriated Judy more. Eyes narrowed to nearly a squint, Judy stomped right up to the rabbit.

"And how the figs does nearly beating a rabbit to death help her!" Judy screamed at the offending rabbit, unable to believe the stupidity of the answer.

Apparently the large female was only just beginning to realize the contradictory nature of her statement, as she found herself unable to respond. One of the smaller males seemed to have the answer figured out however.

"We had to! We tried talking to her, but she wouldn't listen to us. We were just trying to make her listen!"

Judy whirled to face the new speaker, visibly disgusted at his logic. "Explain to me how violence makes people listen." Judy hissed at him.

Silence.

Disgusted, Judy yelled at the crowd. "Nothing? Can no one explain to me how hitting someone makes them listen?"

The large female spoke up, clearly frustrated. "But she wasn't listening to us! We had to make her listen! She was going to die!" she screamed at Judy.

"Oh, so you decided to hasten her death did you? Let me ask again. How did beating her up make her listen?"

The only response Judy received was an angry glare.

"Is she listening now? Was she listening when she was curled up in a defensive ball? Did she receive your kicks and say 'oh, yes, I see, you make a good point'? Do you think she understands your reasoning now that you've broken her leg and ribs? Do you think that now whenever she sees you, she'll say to herself 'oh, there's the rabbit that beat me up, I really trust her and value her opinions'?" Judy punctuated each question with a loud thump of her foot as she glared angrily at the rabbits before her.

Judy looked each rabbit in the eye, trying to drive her point home. As she did, many of the rabbits looked down in shame. Judy noticed Jack had also taken the teacher aside and they were talking quietly.

"When you beat her up… god, 'her' I don't even know her name." Judy said, disgusted at herself for not asking earlier.

"It's Jade, her name is Jade Hopps." A tan rabbit quietly spoke out while staring at the ground.

 _Jade!? Oh God! My sister!_ Judy wanted to run to the car, speed to the hospital, and force her way to her sister's side, she wanted to arrest each and every one of the rabbits in front of her, she wanted to hit them.

Judy restrained herself, this was a lesson she needed to teach, and one she needed to follow.

"When you beat Jade up, you were not making her listen. You were not convincing her of your arguments. You were not showing her why you were right and she was wrong. All you were doing, was venting your own frustration on to her." Judy lectured through her clenched teeth. She was still fighting with all she had to not run to her sister's side. _I can't help her now._

"Your violence only demonstrated that you were not skilled enough with words to convince her. Violence is the tool of the desperate."

"But we were desperate!" the tan rabbit spoke up.

"What's your name?" Judy asked.

"Cream." Came the shy response.

"Ok Cream, were you friends with Jade?"

"Yes! We were trying to protect her!"

"What could possibly be so dangerous, that you would resort to violence just because Jade wasn't listening to you?"

"Well, she told me she had a…" Cream began.

"She lives with a fox!" Spat out the defiant female. "She was going to get herself, and her whole family brutally killed just because she felt pity for a savage beast! See, we had to make her listen!"

Judy couldn't believe what she was hearing. _Why does it always turn back to prejudice against foxes? Wait, are they talking about Gideon?_ "Do you even know the fox in question?" She asked, defensive of her friend.

"Does it matter? All predators turn savage eventually, that's what my daddy told me. It's even on the news. If we didn't do whatever was necessary to make her listen and kick him out, he would have eaten her and her whole family."

"The _mammal_ you are talking about with such ignorance has a name. His name is Gideon. He's a wonderful, caring fox, who has been with our family for months, whom I have personally known for years. He looks after the kits, including Jade, prepares their breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. He is a beloved member of _our_ family who we _all_ trust." Judy defended her friend. "Have any of you ever tried one of Jade's lunches?"

Cream meekly raised a paw.

"Was it good?"

"Amazing, the best I've ever eaten." Cream responded.

"Do you think a mammal who didn't care for and love Jade, would spend the time and effort to make her something that good, along with two hundred other rabbits?" Judy asked, shooting a withering glare towards the defiant rabbit, who had been about to open her mouth.

Tears formed in Cream's eyes as she seemed to be convinced by Judy's words, but Judy was too angry to care. "Oh stop it, I saw you kicking her with everyone else, and you dare call yourself Jade's friend." She scoffed at the crowd.

"Listen up." Judy spoke as loudly as she could. "I will personally make sure an officer visits each and every one of your families to investigate what could possibly make you all think that violence is an acceptable form of communication. Any of you old enough to be charged with assault and battery will be charged, those of you too young will also face disciplinary action both at home and at school. Actions are not without consequences, you're old enough to know that."

"You're the one who'll learn about consequences when the fox goes savage and eats your family." The defiant rabbit mumbled under her breath. Judy ignored her. "You will not take out your shame or frustration on Jade again. When she returns," _If she returns_ Judy thought. "When she returns, you are not to speak to or touch her unless she approaches you first. _If_ she chooses to forgive any of you, I suggest you do your best to become worthy of her forgiveness." Judy purposely caught the eyes of the few rabbits who looked ashamed or horrified at what they had done.

Judy then turned to Jack and called out to him. "Officer Savage! Do we have the names of all the students involved?" A few of the students looked surprised at the name. Judy heard a few of the students whisper his name amongst themselves.

Jack called back curtly. "Yes. Mrs. Swinton has provided me a list." The pig in question, looked incredibly nervous as she nodded.

"Good. All of you, get back to your classes, and think about why violence is a stupid way to have an argument." Judy sternly addressed the students.

"But you're a cop! You use violence all the time! You're just as bad as us!" called out the large, defiant female.

Judy was insulted that she could think of the ZPD as no better than a violent gang of school children. "No. The police only use force when necessary, we do not use violence! When we use force, it is to protect the innocent, not to win an argument. Force is only useful for stopping mammals, not convincing them." Judy stared down the quieted rabbits. "Now get to class." She said, punctuating each word with a pause.

The students walked towards a pair of doors located at the back of the school, the adrenaline from the entire affair was clearly wearing off. Some of them were wearing angry expressions, some looked ashamed, and some were outright crying. Judy didn't care. She just had to get Mrs. Swinton's statement, debrief Chief Snoots, and then she could rush to the hospital to see her sister.

Judy took a steadying breath, counted to three, then walked over to Jack and Mrs. Swinton. As she approached, she caught part of Jack's tirade, spoken slowly and quietly, but with clear anger in his voice.

"…you are bigger than them, stronger than them, and one would hope, smarter than them. If you can't keep your own students in line, then you are unfit to be their teacher. And you'd better hope I don't find out that you were corrupting their young minds with your vile, bigoted opinions or I swear to god you will never work with children again." Jack finished chewing out the teacher and looked at Judy as she came to stand beside him.

"Come on officer Hopps, I've already taken her statement. We need to report Chief Snoots."


	15. Chapter 8(A)

**Author's Note:**

If writing fanfiction is is copy-wrong, I don't want to be copy-right!

Sorry for the wait guys, work's been busy and I just haven't been feeling very creative during my 3 hours a day of free time. Also, a lack of feedback (positive, negative, constructive, it doesn't matter) led to a lack of motivation.

Unfortunately, this is a very Judy-centric chapter, I had originally intended to give at least half the chapter to Nick, but the story sort of...evolved.

Don't worry, the next chapter focuses a LOT on Nick as he adjusts and acclimatizes to his new circumstances with the Carnivorous Mushrooms.

I hope you enjoy! (and if you didn't, let me know what I can do better!)

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 8 (A)**

J: Looking for the answer / N: There's just no hope for our final embrace

"Scat!" Judy swore as she stomped hard on the brakes. The police cruiser stopped sharply, narrowly avoiding colliding with the van in front of them.

She looked sideways at Jack to gauge his reaction. She was embarrassed of the swear, but still too jumpy to stop herself from her quick reactions and quicker tongue.

Jack, for his part, kept his poker face on, only barely raising one eyebrow. It was enough to re-direct Judy's ire towards him.

"Now you know why I said I shouldn't drive! I'm too stressed right now! Why didn't you listen to me?" Judy half yelled, half cried at Jack.

"Because, just as you are my senior in dealing with savage mammals, I am your senior in being a member of the police force. Just as there is a lot I can learn from you, there is a lot you can learn from me." Jack replied slowly, obviously choosing his words carefully.

The traffic started up again, and Judy inched the cruiser forward, still stuck in what was developing into a long traffic jam.

"What could I possibly learn by driving when I'm obviously too stressed out to drive!?" Judy shot back at Jack, now irritated that he felt he had to chose his words carefully when talking to her.

"It's not stress that's making you jumpy." Jack said in a level tone "it's adrenaline." After a moments thought he continued "I assume this is fairly normal for you? Feeling energized and nervous even after a confrontation?" he inquired.

"Obviously! That's why I warned you about it!" Judy replied.

"It's pretty normal. Females, on average, tend to take longer for their adrenaline levels to rise, and also take longer for it to fall."

"That's what you wanted me to learn?" Judy asked, incredulous "That just because I'm female, you can calm down faster than me? I didn't take you for a jerk Jack."

"Oh no." Jack chuckled, still calm as a cucumber. "I'm actually an anomaly, it usually takes me half an hour for my adrenaline levels to fall."

"You don't look like it." Judy quipped back at him.

"That's because I'm actively keeping myself calm" Jack responded "and that's the lesson." _Oh great, if that's the lesson, here comes the lecture_ Judy thought. "Adrenaline, or epinephrine, increases our reaction speed, focuses the senses, and grants a temporary strength boost. Males typically have faster adrenal reactions, meaning that when they are surprised, they react quicker, and with more force. The down side to that is that adrenaline also heightens fear and anxiety, allowing mammals to be controlled by their emotions."

Judy slammed on the brakes again as the light ahead of them turned yellow, then red.

"For mammals like you and I, we gain a little more time to think clearly before we react, but we also have to deal with the side effects of adrenaline for longer after the confrontation. In our line of work, those few extra seconds of clear thought are vital, but so too is maintaining a clear mind afterwards. The lesson here, is to learn to control your body, and to actively lower your adrenaline faster." Jack continued.

"But you're not just less anxious! You're perfectly calm!" Judy shot at him, glancing around the cars to check the traffic light.

"True, but I've had years of practice." Jack responded.

Seeing the light was still red, Judy sighed "Great, so I'm supposed to learn in one day what took you years?" she grumbled.

"No, but you are expected to start practicing."

"Why isn't traffic moving?!" Judy groused, the light had turned green, but the cars in front of her remained still, taunting her.

"Sloth day." Jack responded simply.

Understanding flooded into Judy as she remembered her friend's antics on Sloth days past. She groaned and slammed her head against the steering wheel, putting the cruiser into park. "We don't even have any sloths in the burrows! Why do we have sloth day? Just an excuse for rabbits to pretend to be slow and cause trouble for everyone else. Judy groused."

"Judy." Jack said slowly. "Calm."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Judy asked exasperatedly. She was done with this conversation, it was stupid, demeaning, irritating, point-less…why was Jack not responding?

Judy glanced over at her partner and thought for a moment that he had fallen asleep. His ears were folded against his head, his eyes were closed, and he was breathing slow, deep breathes. Judy only knew he was awake as his eyes opened a slit and he looked at her.

Unconsciously, Judy was already beginning to mimic his breathing, her own breath deepening and slowing down. Jack looked so calm and peaceful, Judy decided to mimic him.

Judy folded her ears down, greatly muffling the constant cacophony of the world around her. Judy couldn't shut her eyes, she was still driving after all, but she let herself daze out, focusing only on the bumper of the car in front of her. They still weren't moving. Judy listened carefully to Jack's breathing and tried to match it breath for breath.

 _In._

 _Out…in._

Judy's mind cleared of all thoughts.

 _Out…in._

 _Out…in._

 _Out…in._

 _Out._ As she breathed, she felt her heart beat slower and her muscles begin to relax. After a few minutes, Judy felt like she was sleeping, only she was still awake. The car in front of her still hadn't moved, and Judy was feeling ok with that.

Judy glanced towards Jack again, and was actually pleased to see him smiling at her.

"That." He said, his words quiet, slow, and deep "is why we have Sloth day."

Finally, the young rabbits had crossed the road, and the cars began to move again. Judy shifted the cruiser into drive and glanced at the rabbits who had held them up for so long. She actually smiled at their antics as they were still pretending to walk like sloths on their way back to class from lunch.

"Ok. That, was amazing." Judy said, referring to the feeling of calm and peace she had felt. "But I don't see how it's connected to sloth day."

"Did you know, that rabbits can actually die from heart failure if we become too stressed or excited?" Jack asked rhetorically. "Sloth day, so I'm told, is meant to teach young rabbits, even if in an amusing way, how to slow their hearts down in stressful situations. It's important to be able to take things slowly every once in a while."

"Hmm." Judy hummed. "Well, thanks for the lesson." Judy said, genuinely appreciative of this new technique.

"You're welcome." Jack responded happily.

"So now it's my turn. Spill it. Why were you so mad at that teacher?" Judy asked.

"Teaching is an extremely important job, and I have little tolerance for assholes who abuse their positions as teachers." Jack responded with clear passion, his voice rising slightly in speed and pitch.

"Wait, what?" Judy asked, surprised.

"Teachers. They have full control over our youth for seven hours of the day, controlling all information they are exposed to, enforcing what is correct and what is false, conditioning behaviors, and influencing young minds. Yet for some reason we allow just about anyone to become a teacher, regardless of how bigoted, self-righteous, or petty they are. We allow teachers to just indoctrinate our children without giving it a second thought. So I have no tolerance for teachers who teach and perpetuate hate on the basis of characteristics mammals have no control over." Jack continued angrily.

"Sounds like you've had a bad experience." Judy mused aloud.

"Not me." Jack said, anger still clear in his voice. "There was this hyena I was friends with in highschool. Honestly, even without the bigotry, hyenas get it bad around puberty what with their voices changing, the uncontrollable laughing, and their…well…it's bad. She got teased a lot, but the worst part was Ms. Stripes, our history teacher, who constantly picked on her and insulted her when she had a laughing fit in class."

Judy turned took a right-hand turn a little too fast, forcing Jack to grab onto the arm rest for a moment.

"Anyways, that would-be Scar not only encouraged bullying her, but did so herself on many occasions, purely because she was a hyena. She had no right to call herself a teacher. One day I just had enough."

Jack closed his eyes and continued. "I yelled at Ms. Stripes, telling her to stop picking on my friend because of her laughing fits. As a zebra, Ms. Stripes should have known that she couldn't control it, and that it the mark of a despot to bully someone for something they couldn't control."

"How did she respond?" Judy asked, shocked at the cruelty of this Ms. Stripes.

"I got sent to the office, and when I told them what was going on, they moved my friend out of the class. Ms. Stripes then spread rumors that my friend wasn't smart enough to cut it in her class. Funny thing was, it was a history class and my friend had an eidetic memory."

"Wait, eidetic as in able to vividly recall images and experiences from memory?" Judy asked, surprised.

"Yeah, so you can imagine the hell she suffered from all the bullying, as she had to relive it every time she remembered it." Jack grumbled, closing his eyes and trying to calm himself down.

"Oh my god!" Judy shuddered, horrified at the thought of having to constantly relive the cruelties of high-school teasing. "What happened to her?"

"She committed suicide." Jack stated matter-of-factly, breathing loudly and deeply.

"Jack, I'm so sorry, that's horrible. Did Ms. Stripes at least get punished?"

Jack shook his head and laughed sardonically. "Judy, you have to understand, yours is probably one of the most tolerant generations I've seen. When I was at high-school, probably about five to ten years before you, nobody concerned themselves with the plights of predators. Hers was the fifth predator suicide at that school in three years. No one even questioned why."

"Oh Jack…" Judy said, wanting to comfort both him and herself as her heart ached at the cruelty of the world he lived in. _Not unlike my own though_ Judy thought. _After all, I watched a trampled fox die, have lost my best friend who I still can't locate, watched my own sister get nearly beaten to death, must watch Gideon suffer whatever cognitive problems that damned Tame Collar caused him to develop, and now I must worry about testifying in court, seeing my sister in the hospital, searching for Nick, finding treatment for Gideon, training this precinct in combating savage mammals, and work my job on top of that. All that, because of our prejudices against predators._

"It is what it is." Jack interrupted her thoughts curtly, withdrawing from Judy and into himself. "We must accept the facts of the world as being what they are. Only after we acknowledge how things are can we work to change them."

"Sounds like something Nick would say." Judy said as she pulled into the police parking lot.

"Who's Nick?" Jack asked.

"A friend of mine I met in Zootopia, a fox. You'd like him." Judy replied as she turned off the cruiser.

"Can't wait to meet him." Jack said dryly as they jogged towards Chief Snoots' office to for their debriefing.

Judy couldn't respond.

* * *

"…and then we drove back here. Although we were delayed by some kids crossing the road." Judy finished.

"Sloth day." Chief Snoots intoned while massaging her brow. Then she turned to give Jack a look of understanding while shifting her eyes briefly to Judy. Jack reciprocated the look with a small nod.

"Officer Hops, as the injured victim was a member of your family, officer Savage is the only officer capable of writing an objective report." Chief Snoots announced.

Judy was about to interrupt the chief, to let her know that she could still be objective. "I also understand that I am to accompany you on a search for a missing mammal tonight. I am sure you could use the extra time to prepare. As such, you are relieved from duty for the rest of the day." The chief continued.

"Go see your sister, I'm sure she could use your support." Chief Snoots added kindly and quietly.

Judy looked back and forth between Jack and chief Snoots, surprised at the kindness of the two mammals in front of her. Jack nodded at her, while chief Snoots merely smiled kindly.

"T-thank you both so much!" Judy said, barely containing her tears. She quickly ran out of the room and to her car.

* * *

Nick found himself walking along the edge of a forest. Technically, he was about 15 feet from the treeline, and was enjoying the feeling of fresh, soft grass on his paws. The feeling was made ten times better when he would step onto a patch of cool and damp moss as it cooled him down. Listening, he could hear the songs of the birds as they went about their business. Sniffing, he could smell the scent of sun-warmed blueberries, still ripening on the bush. Looking, he enjoyed the vibrant greens of the forest on his left, the contrasting light and shadow adding a wealth of color to the green forest.

Nick found a large patch of grass that was clear of small rocks and lay down on it, staring up at the blue sky above him. He relished the warmth of the sun on his skin, making him feel warm and loved. Nick also enjoyed the cool breeze ruffling his fur as it blew past, preventing him from over-heating.

Taking in another large breath to smell the blueberries, Nick smiled. _This is probably what heaven would be like_ he thought to himself as he watched the clouds blow by. _Strange that a city-mammal like myself could enjoy just being out in the wild so much. Probably something I get from the Fox._ As Nick's thoughts drifted to the being that he called the Fox, a cloud passed over the sun, preventing its warm rays from reaching Nick and he heard an angry snarl come from the direction of the forest.

The meadows suddenly felt very cold, and very dark. Fur on end, Nick bolted to his feet and looked towards the angry sound. There, crouched at the edge of the forest and the meadow, stood the Fox. It was snarling, fangs exposed, snout scrunched up, ears laid flat against its head, and eyes focused directly upon Nick.

The Fox was clearly angry with him, but Nick did not understand why. Questioningly, Nick took his feelings of confusion and willed them towards the Fox. While Nick would have preferred to use his words, weaving a tale to get himself out of trouble, it would not have worked on the Fox, who did not understand words.

Just as Nick had previously managed a primal communication with the Fox, the Fox responded to Nick's confusion. A wave of fury, anger, and desperation overtook Nick, a moment later accompanied by a biting hunger and a complex mix of fear, possessiveness, and the fierce desire to live.

Nick received, and digested, all those emotions in the span of a moment. A moment later, he understood two things. One, he was currently dreaming, and two, the Fox wanted control of his body back. The Fox had entrusted him, in an environment it could not survive in, to look after them and help them to thrive. Nick's failure to find food, endangering their body, and now sleeping among potential enemies in a cave far deeper than any den ought to be, had caused the Fox to decide that it was best suited to rule.

In that same moment, the Fox decided to lunge at Nick. When the Fox was merely 10 feet away, Nick understood. Control over his body would be decided by a fight in his mind; likely a fight to the death, and given the healthy muscle of the Fox's body, compared to his mental image of himself (who looked like his previous, under-nourished self) Nick was going to lose.

Nick turned and bolted.

* * *

Judy sat in the sterile hospital room at Jade's bedside. Having been in this very room a few times as a result of her unorthodox childhood behaviors, she knew how alienating it could be to awaken to the sterile smell and color of the room.

Judy had already purchased a bouquet of daisy, marigold, chamomile, and heart's ease at the hospital's gift shop for her sister to enjoy when she woke up. Of course, by enjoy, Judy understood and appreciated the fact that the flowers could be used both to add color to the room, and to snack on as Jade began feeling better.

Jade was sleeping on the hospital bed, partly from exhaustion, and partly from the tranquilizers and the anaesthetic the doctors had given her. The young rabbit had both hind legs in casts, and was wrapped up in medical gauze from her thighs all the way to her neck, there was also a large medical patch taped on to her face where a large bruise was forming. Overall, it was a heart-wrenching sight for Judy when she had first arrived.

The first thing Judy did upon finding her sister still sleeping peacefully at the hospital was to call her parents. Stu had told her that the hospital had already called them, and that while he had to stay and care for the farm, Bonnie and Gideon were already on their way. Stu told Judy he would visit the hospital later that evening before he had to hang up in a rush to rescue some of the kits who were going about their chores in a sloth-way for sloth day and gotten stuck.

Judy watched her younger sister sleeping, her small, shallow breaths and occasional whimpers tearing at Judy's heart-strings. _How much of her pain could I have prevented had we been just a little faster? How much suffering could have been avoided if I had just accepted what Chief Bogo said and gotten back to Chief Snoots that much faster? How much of Jade's pain is my fault?_

Judy's thoughts were interrupted by the terrified screeching of a terrified doe. Hospital or not, Judy was still a police officer, and there was someone who needed help. Judy looked at her sister one last time, making sure that she was still sleeping soundly, before bolting towards the piercing sound.

As Judy's ears had pinpointed the source of the scream as being below her and closer to the hospital entrance, she bolted in that direction, opting for the stairs instead of the elevator. A practical reason for her decision was that she would be able to hear if she descended too many floors and quickly climb back up if she needed to, much faster than guessing on the elevator. She needn't have worried, however, as Judy soon found out that the screaming was coming from the ground floor.

Exiting the stair-well and turning to face the sounds of shouting and objects being thrown, Judy saw Gideon sitting on his rump with his back against the wall, staring in towards one of the hospital room with a look of shock and terror.

Standing inside the room was a middle-aged doe, still wearing her hospital gown, who was currently yelling profanities and throwing various paraphernalia from her purse towards Gideon. A buck who Judy assumed was the woman's husband was trying in vain to calm her down as she continued to pelt Gideon both verbally and physically.

Judy ran into the doorway, physically shielding Gideon with her body, folded her ears against her back to shield them, and yelled as loudly as she could.

"This is officer Judy Hops, Z.P.D.! Ma'am, please calm down!"

The doe paused mid-throw, a container of the ugliest shade of lipstick Judy had ever seen still in her raised paw.

"Oh! Officer! Thank goodness you're here!" The doe exclaimed shrilly. "That **savage** …beast! Just tried to assault me!" she emphasized the word 'savage', clearly aware of the connotations now associated with it. "If it weren't for my worthless husband here, and now you, I might have been eaten by that…monster!" The doe swooned into her husband's arms, her husband just looked apologetically at Judy. "Officer, arrest that mongrel before he does any more damage. This is a hospital, not a cemetery, he can find his meals elsewhere!"

As the doe's dramatic rantings trailed off, Judy began to hear small sounds behind her. Focusing on them she could make out Gideon's whimpering interspersed with his continued muttering of the same phrase "Ah'm sorry. Ah'm sorry, Ah'm sorry" over and over again. Judy's anger swelled up within her.

Just as Judy opened her mouth to put this pretentious upstart in her place, her mother walked in.

"Oh Mrs. Mentis! It's wonderful to see you here. I'd heard some screaming, are you alright?" Bonnie said.

"Mrs. Hops, as always, it is an absolute delight. Please dear, do remember, it is Mrs. Non Compos Mentis! I didn't get my name changed just for everyone to ignore it after all." The doe ranted.

"Of course. So what's going on here?" Bonnie asked curtly, yet politely.

"Well, wouldn't you believe it, my husband and I were just…" the doe began rambling.

Bonnie stepped up behind Judy, raising one of Judy's ears as she did and quietly whispered to her "take poor Gideon and go to Jade's room, I will be up to see you shortly."

"…and your wonderful daughter there arrived just on time to prevent that monster from eating me! Can you believe it? I was almost eaten! Probably would have been if it were up to my worthless husband to protect me." Judy heard the doe ramble on as she slipped behind her mother and whispered to Gideon.

"Come on Gid, Jade's just up a couple of floors. Mom said she'll meet us up there."

Still whimpering out his apologies, Gideon let Judy help him to stand and lead him over to the elevator among strange stares from the hospital staff. Judy only then noticed that Gideon had been sheltering a poorly wrapped box in his paws the entire time.

When they arrived at Jade's room Judy was pleased to find that her sister was still sleeping soundly, despite the cacophony from below.

Gideon rushed over to the bedside, tears flowing freely from his eyes as he took in the state of Jade's battered and broken body. "Please Judy, Ah need ta know, is she gonna be ok?" He asked sorrowfully.

"The doctors said she is stable. Her injuries are serious, but will heal in time." Judy said softly as she came to stand beside Gideon.

As they watched, Jade shuddered and clutched at the bed sheets, her pain beginning to overcome the medications. Gideon responded by taking his tail in his paws and gently placing it into Jade's. The young rabbit grabbed on to the furry appendage tightly and clutched it towards her chest, finding comfort in the soft fur and accompanying warmth.

With that gesture, Gideon found himself in the awkward position of having to either press up against the bed to look at Jade, or keep his back to her so that the length of his tail granted him more freedom. Judy brought a chair over to him and positioned it so he could sit down, facing away from the bed of course.

Gideon placed his parcel on the bedside table, accidentally knocking the bouquet as he did, but fortunately catching it before it fell on to the floor. He looked at Judy, embarrassed.

"Gideon," Judy asked "what happened down there?"

"That, dear, was my fault." Said Bonnie as she strode into the room. After a quick glance at the hospital bed, and seeing Jade clutching tightly to Gideon's tail, she continued. "I had asked Gideon if he could go on ahead and sit with Jade while I got us signed in and checked up on you." Bonnie looked at Gideon apologetically. "I'm sorry, Gideon, I guess I forgot to give you directions. It really is unfortunate that you walked in on Mrs. Mentis."

"Ah'm sorry, Ah'm really sorry Mrs. Hops, Ah didn' mean ta, honest." Gideon whimpered.

"Oh Gideon." Bonnie walked over to him and hugged his head to her chest. "It's not your fault. That woman is completely insane. She can still function fine, which is the only reason her husband hasn't been able to get her institutionalized, but she really should be."

Gideon pulled away and looked up at Bonnie, his eyes large and wet and fearful. "Will Ah become like that?" He asked in a whisper.

"No. Gideon, Mrs. Mentis was a cruel mammal for a long time before she went insane. You are not cruel."

"But Ah was once."

"But you've been kind for much longer, and right now you have one of the biggest hearts of any animal I know." Bonnie comforted.

 _Your mother didn't say anything about whether Gideon was going insane or not_ Judy heard Nick's voice.

"But what if Ah go crazy too?" Gideon asked, obviously having a similar revelation.

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but I have no doubt that you will still be as kind as you are now."

Gideon suddenly yelped as Jade squeezed his tail, digging her nails into the flesh under the fur.


	16. Chapter 8(B)

**Author's Note:**

Copyright notice: I'm not making any money off of this, that's what my day job is for. So sue me.

Hey guys, terribly sorry for the long wait. I've got no excuse. Well, actually, I do, but you're not interested in excuses, you're interested in the story.

So on with the show!

* * *

 **A Tale of Two Thoughts: Chapter 8 (A)**

J: Looking for the answer / N: There's just no hope for our final embrace

Nick ran faster than he'd ever run in his life. He pumped life, blood, and energy into his legs, willing them with every fiber of his being to move faster, to move him faster.

Fear is a very powerful motivator, and with the Fox gaining ground on him at an alarming rate, all snarls and bared fangs, Nick had fear a-plenty.

As he ran through the meadow, Nick was glad for the lack of obstacles to trip on. He instinctually knew that if he should fall, the Fox would soon fall upon him and he would be no more.

Nick's panic only grew, however, when he realized that the lack of obstacles meant the Fox also had no obstacles between it and Nick, and the Fox was gaining on him. Desperately, he cast his mind about for a way to survive.

He couldn't win a direct fight, the Fox was stronger, faster, and far more ferocious than Nick was. To engage it in a physical battle would be to die.

At the same time, Nick knew that any obstacle capable of slowing the Fox down would likely also hinder him. Any trees he had to circumvent, the Fox could run around faster, any ravines or ditches he had to jump, the Fox could clear with more ease, any river… _that's it! A river!_

Nick noticed a river on his right almost at the same time as he came up with a plan. He quickly changed direction, making a mad dash towards the river. It was fortunate timing to as the Fox had just lunged for him and had to land, skid, regain its balance, and turn to continue its chase.

Somehow, Nick was aware of the Fox's blunder, and only prayed that it would buy him enough time to reach the river. As he poured on more speed, he found himself fighting an invisible force that kept him from running any faster. _Come on Nick! Just a little further! MOVE LEGS!_ Nick literally felt the Fox's hot breath rustle the fur on his tail and he quickly reached behind to grab it away from the Fox's reach.

SPLASH

Nick ran headlong into the river, not even slowing down, and immediately turned to face upstream. The current swept at his thighs, threatening to knock him over and drag him downstream as it did. Fortunately, Nick was able to keep his balance and even force his way upstream a little.

The Fox was not so lucky, having leapt head first into the river after Nick it had no way to steady itself as the fast-rushing current slammed into it's snout and chest. While the Fox could keep its head above the water, it could not maintain its balance and was quickly pushed downstream by the current.

It took the Fox nearly a minute to find purchase on the river-bed with its claws and to steady itself against the stream of water blasting into its face. During that time, it had been dragged nearly twenty feet downstream from Nick. Seeing this, Nick felt overcome with relief.

Nick watched the Fox struggle to even stay in place, relief flooding through him to know that his plan had worked. His relief turned to cold horror as he watched the Fox's size suddenly increase until the frothing waters only came half way up its chest. The Fox began forcing its way upstream and towards Nick, Nick quickly turned and began his own herculean efforts against the river.

At first, Nick continued to gain ground on the Fox, his standing on two legs meant there was less of him for the river to push against, and he could lift an entire leg out of the river to move it forward faster, then plunge it back in to find purchase so he could lift the other leg.

Despite this, and the fact that he didn't feel tired, or seem to be out of breath, Nick felt his movements slowing down. His fear overtook him as, no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't move himself any faster. It was like those nightmares where he was being chased, and couldn't run. _Like those nightmares, it IS one of those nightmares_. _Only this time, if I'm caught, I wont wake up._

Nick looked over his shoulder to check on the Fox's progress. As he did, his heart jumped to his throat and his body froze in terror. The Fox was right behind him, now twice its original size, and it was close enough to bite.

Nick watched as the terrifyingly large maw, hooded by two furious eyes and filled with gleaming, terrifyingly-sharp, teeth opened wide. Frothing saliva flew from the beast's mouth as it snapped its jaw shut, right around Nicks…

* * *

"Wilde wake up!" yelled Skye, tightening her grip open his arm and letting her claws sink into the flesh under the fur.

Nick's eyes snapped open and Skye nearly choked on her sharp intake of breath.

"AAAAAAAAAHAHHHH!" Nick screamed in terror at her, completely unable to register the mammal in front of him.

"EEEEEEEEEEE!" Skye returned, completely startled by the red fox. Her frightened scream was cut short by her Tame Collar. She tried to leap away from him but didn't get far, as she remained attached to Nick by her grip on his arm which had turned into a vice-like grip.

Eyes wide open, yet unseeing, pupils dilated to collect light, yet reflecting only darkness, Nick ripped his arm out of her grasp so quickly her claws tore his flesh.

Still screaming, still unseeing, Nick scrabbled in a mad rush to escape the mammal in front of him before it could harm him further. It wasn't until he was backed into a corner, and Skye was safely on the other side of the room that he registered where he was, and who was with him. He stopped trying to escape and simply sat down, still breathing heavily.

"Sweet Kitsune Nick!" Skye began.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Nick's fear forced his retort.

"Stop!" Skye whined, clutching her ears in pain.

Heart still racing, Nick swallowed as he regained control over his body. Still breathing heavily, he offered Skye a small smile to apologise. After a moment of silence, he licked his lips. "Sorry" he muttered.

The situation having calmed down a little, and having heard Nick's apology, Skye felt it safe to talk. "Sweet Kitsune Nick," she repeated, "do you always wake up like that?"

"No."

"Was it a nightmare?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Skye took a deep breath in to steady herself. Regaining her composure, her smile returned to her face. "Well, up and at it then sleeping beauty. We've got a busy day ahead of us!"

Nick just glared at her from his corner.

Sky took another breath in, then covered her nose with her paw. "First things first, you need a bath, this isn't your permanent den you know!" She said jokingly. Quickly Skye skipped out the door calling back cheerily into the room "Hurry up Wilde, or I **will** get a bucket of ice water from the kitchens to use instead."

That got Nick moving. He may not have properly awake yet, certainly not awake enough to be in public, but he definitely did not want to be woken up by ice-water.

Nick scrambled after Skye, only rearing up to walk on his hind legs as he exited the room he had just been sleeping in. As he followed the arctic vixen, he made sure to keep some distance so as not to offend her with his smell.

"I was kidding about the smell, you don't smell that bad." Skye said slyly as she looked over her shoulder at him. "But we do have a busy day, and you should be clean before we start."

Feeling less conscious about his smell Nick walked closer to Skye, gazing intently at his surroundings as they walked. It would not do to get lost down here.

"So, what could the mighty Skye fox have in store for me?" Nick pretended to muse aloud.

"I'm glad you asked!" Skye replied happily. "First I'll show you where the men's showers are so you can get cleaned up. Next I'll take you to the kitchens so we can grab some breakfast. Oh, and I spoke with Big Red last night, he's our leader, and he's giving the second orientation speech today, so you should definitely see that!"

"Orientation speech?" Nick's ears perked up. That certainly sounded like something a cult would have. It spoke of either brain-washing, or meticulous planning on scale with that of a large organization…or both, Nick supposed.

"Well, it's more like a recruitment speech. But it is part of the routine that keeps the carnivorous mushrooms safe." Skye answered. "Basically, all new recruits are brought in blind-folded and given a speech about the necessity of secrecy, then they are told how to contact one of our recruiters, and returned to their homes. If they are interested, they can contact the recruiter, who will bring them back for the second speech. That's the one we're going to."

Skye looked at Nick to make sure he was paying attention. While the red fox was still looking around him in interest as they walked, his ears and tail remained pointed towards Skye, so she continued.

"The second speech is more about the purpose of the organization, what we do, and why we do it. After that, if the recruits return for the third time, they are given a tour of the base and their assigned roles.

Skye turned a corner and led Nick down a larger, more public hallway, smiling happily at the few mammals she passed.

"So I'm skipping a few steps." Nick mused. _Why would they allow that?_ As Nick imagined various reasons for why he would be allowed not to follow the standard procedure, he accidentally bumped into a muskrat.

"Watch it fox!" The muskrat yelled angrily at him.

"Good morning to you too beautiful." Nick replied jovially as he adopted his most charming smile.

The muskrat, having walked past Nick already, did a double take and turned to look at the fox. Only seeing the charming smile on Nick's face, he was unsure as to how to react. Turning back around, the muskrat continued on his way, muttering "stupid foxes" to himself as he did.

"Glad to see you know how to handle yourself around speciesist jerks." Skye said darkly, continuing to stare ahead of her.

"Like any fox wouldn't know how to handle someone like him." Nick laughed.

"You'd be surprised." Skye responded, fighting to recover her smile. "Back in Canida, foxes mostly kept to their own communities. It resulted in a few…violent reactions when they came across speciesist morons."

Nick could tell from her flattened ears and dragging tail that Skye was lost in a personal memory. Not really being good at dealing with emotions himself, he tried to use reason and rationality to bring her back from her memories. "Well, with foxes being so few in number and stereotyped so badly it is important to remember that we all represent our species. Lie to a mammal once, and it will confirm their stereotypes about foxes. That's why, as foxes, we must all work together to change the stereotypes."

"I agree" said Skye, "but we shouldn't have to! An individual fox's actions should not be representative of all foxes!" Her tail twitched in agitation.

"It shouldn't be that way, but that's just how most mammal's minds work. They have to group things into mental boxes, and everything in the same box acquires the same attributes."

Nick put his paw on Skye's shoulder. "Don't worry, if enough foxes in the box are honest and good, eventually the fox box will be known as honest and good, instead of sneaky and sly."

"I know. I just…it gets hard sometimes." Skye said as she wiped a tear from under one eye. "Anyways, we're here. Just go through that door and you'll be at the showers." Skye pointed towards a large door with a plaque showing a pair of trousers on it.

Not wanting to end their conversation on such a depressing note, Nick opened his mouth one last time as he pushed the door open. "Try not to think about it too much. Instead focus on the good things; like your boyfriend, your baby, and your new bea-u-tiful underling. That's me of course." Nick winked as he slipped through the door.

Skye sighed as Nick disappeared into the showers. She knew what he was trying to do, and appreciated the attempt. _Yeah, Sunny will probably be overjoyed when I tell him._ Skye pictured his big goofy smile, mouth half open and tongue lolling out on the left side. _He'll probably want to rush out and get some baby toys, diapers, clothes…_ Skye's eyes shot open, _clothes! Shoot!_ She had forgotten that Nick would need some clean clothes to change in to after he cleaned up!

* * *

"Officer Hops?" gently boomed Chief Snoots' voice from the doorway. "It's time."

Judy looked at her chief from her seat on the other side of the hospital bed.

"If you don't want to go, that's fine, but I still need to deliver the suitcase to Chief Bogo."

Judy didn't know how to respond. On one hand, she **needed** to find Nick and make things right, especially after all she had learned about him, and how deeply she'd hurt him. On the other hand, her sister was currently lying unconscious in front of her, injured from head to toe because of her, and she needed Judy too.

Judy looked to her mother, anguish at the indecision clearly written on her face.

"Go, Judy." Bonnie said softly. "Jade will be here when you return, and there's nothing you can do for her while she's unconscious. You've already saved her from those horrible bullies, you've done so much for Jade already."

 _I haven't done enough._ Judy thought. _How much of her pain could I have saved her if I had been faster? Would this have even happened if I hadn't started the savage predators idiocy? If she hadn't been forced to defend Gideon from those small-minded children? I'm so sorry Jade, I'll make things right, I promise._

Judy turned sadly to face Chief Snoots. "I'm going with you."

* * *

The car ride to the Hop's burrow was short, but long enough for the Chief to confirm that she had gotten a list of all the mammals involved in Jade's assault, and that she would be sending an officer to each of their burrows over the next few days.

The rest of the ride passed in silence with Judy musing to herself as she stared out the window at the setting sun, the large-mammal-sized vehicle vibrating softly on the gravel road. Due to Zootopia's climate control, it was difficult to tell what season you were in while in Zootopia's borders, however, the earlier setting of the sun indicated that winter was coming. And with the dawn of winter, the days would only get darker.

As they parked on the dirt road leading up to the Hops' burrow's door, Chief Snoots put her arm in front of Judy to catch her attention.

"Judy. I know I don't have to remind you, but I'm going to say it anyways. You still need to testify in court in three days for the murder of Edward Wile."

"I know." Judy replied sadly. It didn't matter, it was trivial. Sure it was a horrible murder, and it was horrible that the murderer was likely going to get away with it, but it was still just one way in a million that the prejudices of the mammals around had turned Zootopia, her dream city, where anyone could be anything, into her nightmare where many chose to be cruel and small-minded.

"So I've got you off duty for the next two days so that you have time to prepare. You will have plenty of time to visit your sister, but I **do** expect you to be properly prepared to testify." Chief Snoots said sternly as she searched Judy's face for her reaction. Judy's ears didn't even twitch.

"Of course ma'am." Judy replied.

After searching Judy's face a bit longer, Chief Snoots seemed grimly satisfied with what she saw, and she reluctantly withdrew her arm. Judy exited the cruiser and trudged her way into the burrow.

Surprisingly, Judy remained completely unaccosted on her journey to her room. She didn't ruminate on it too much however, as she had seen that her father's truck was missing and assumed that he and the older members of the family were on their way to see Jade.

Reaching her room, Judy dug underneath her bed until she felt the cool leather handle of Nick's suitcase. Pulling it out, she placed it on her bed and opened it up. Judy then took out her iCarrot and quickly took pictures of the suitcase, then of each individual item, before placing them back in the suitcase and closing it up.

Judy knew that if she took too long, Chief Snoots would get suspicious, so she finished as quickly as she could and yanked the suitcase off of her bed. In her rush, she failed to notice that the stone tablet had fallen out of the suitcase and on to her floor. Judy rushed out of the room, suitcase flying behind her.

As Judy neared the entrance of the burrow, she slowed down and focused on Jack's breathing technique, she needed to make sure that even Chief Snoots didn't suspect that if she failed to find Nick tonight, she would keep looking after the trial.

Focusing her breathing, and closing her eyes, Judy managed to calm herself down enough that she felt she could fool the elephant. Her heart was still pounding in her chest, but she doubted Chief Snoots would be able to hear it anyways. Judy opened the door with as much calm as she could feign, and walked out of the burrow.

* * *

"I can't believe you're making me wear this." Nick whined. "I look ridiculous!"

"Please, ridiculous was that beat up old Pawaiian button down you were wearing." Skye scoffed. "This makes you look intelligent, and if you weren't such a whiner, maybe even handsome."

Nick was currently outfitted in an orange and black, diamond patterned, sweater vest overtop a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His pants were an attractive light grey corduroy that ended at his knees.

"but it's so tight!" Nick whined again.

"It is not! Look, it doesn't even press down your fur, you have plenty of space."

Nick waved his arms about, stretching the shirt and exposes a tuft of his stomach fluff. "See! It doesn't stretch properly when I move! It's restricting my movements!"

Exasperated, Skye struggled to keep from yelling at Nick "Nick, I swear to Kitsune! I am **having** a baby! I **don't** need anotherone!"

Nick shut up and looked sheepishly at Skye. "Sorry." He said after a few seconds of silence. "It's just, I can't shake the feeling that I **need** to be able to move."

Skye graced nick with a sideways glance through half-lidded eyes and a sly smile.

"But Mr. Wilde, clearly, you **are** moving." She said with a smirk.

Nick was about to respond with some witty comeback, y _es, saying that I'm not moving, and it is merely the rest of the world that moves around me_ _ **is**_ _a witty comeback_ , when his jaw dropped from sheer amazement as Skye opened the door they had stopped at.

On the other side of the door was an enormous circular dining hall. Great stone pillars rose in large intervals to support the 15 foot high ceiling. The ceiling itself was painted in a large mural to resemble a beautifully sunny sky with various clouds being lit up by large, cloud-shaped fluorescent lights. The sun itself was a large yellow incandescent light, and strung up from the ceiling were various model birds and butterflies.

The room itself was split into three sections, with each section meeting in the middle like slices of a blueberry pie. From small, to medium, to large-sized mammals, each section contained appropriately-sized entrance doors as well as one long food counter staffed by an appropriately sized mammal around their perimeter. In the center of the room was the most hilarious round table Nick had ever seen. It was huge, but also accommodate to fit mammals of all sizes so that they might dine together.

The tables were another story, varying from fancy looking patio tables complete with umbrellas that seated 2 to 4 mammals, to long picnic tables that sat at least 20, and everything in between. At first glance, the tables appeared to be strewn about haphazardly, grouped only by the size of the mammals that would use them, but further investigation showed Nick that they were placed far enough apart that mammals could comfortably walk between them without worrying about being bumped or bumping into anyone. Of course, a lion would have a difficult time walking around the tables in the section meant for rodents, but with all of the sections sharing borders, that shouldn't be a problem.

Even more amazing, was the number of predators that were in the room. Nick had been expecting a small sort of resistance group, maybe ten to twenty predators at most. There were at least twice that in the room right now!

"Welcome to the Canteen." Nick heard Skye announce from behind him.

"Wow." Was Nick's eloquent response. "The ceiling is amazing!" Nick said to recover from his earlier evasion of eloquence.

"Isn't it though?" Skye sighed happily. "Guess who made it? Guess! Guess!" She excitedly squealed, tail wagging behind her.

Based on the design of the lights alone, Nick would have guessed it would be the aethyr engineer behind him, but her excitement evident in her body language and tone cemented his opinion.

Nick smiled back at the snowy vixen behind him. Her happy mood washing over him like a cool breeze. "Must have been someone intelligent, creative, and beautiful." He said. "Probably a fox, vixen actually." Nick opened his eyes wide and pulled his ears forwards, feigning shock. "Madam! Don't tell me it was you who designed this miracle!"

Skye giggled at Nick's antics. "Me and Sunny actually." She smiled while still staring at the ceiling.

"Who's Su…."

"Who is that absolutely stunning fox I see!" Came a voice that could only be described as ecstatic from behind Nick and Skye.

Nick opened his mouth, prepared to turn around with another witty comeback, _only the gorgeous and amazing me,_ but received a mouthful of white fur as Skye's tail whipped across his face with the speed of her turn.

"Sunny!" Skye practically yelled as she turned around and launched herself towards the new-comer.

Nick turned around to see who this new mammal was. He caught a brief glimpse of a handsome looking arctic fox before said fox was completely hidden from his view by a delighted Skye who was assaulting the poor creature with numerous kisses and tight hugs.

 _That must be the father._ Nick smiled to himself. Based on Skye's reaction, it was obviously a very loving and healthy relationship. Nick was happy for his new friend, but his joy was bitter-sweet as he knew he would never find such joy for himself.

A few moments later, when the poor new fox had a chance to breathe, his head popped around Skye's shoulder and he smiled at Nick.

"Now look here young vixen." He said in a tone that mimicked and mocked the description of 'stern' "Clearly you are the most beautiful, most wonderful creature to ever grace my eyes, but I am not the right mammal for you. I am too old, I must be, for I had forgotten your beauty and became addled upon seeing another stunning fox by your side."

 _I like him_. _He's kind of like me, only without some sort of primitive killer fox that takes over his body._

Skye pouted at Sunny for a moment, although her tail kept wagging. Sunny laughed.

"I'm only joking, sweetheart. But seriously, you should introduce me to your friend before I start to get jealous. After all, his fashion sense is flawless."

Nick could have sworn he saw Syke's cheeks turn pink, even through all her white fur. She turned to face Nick, but did not relinquish her hold on her boyfriend.

"Wilde, meet Sunny Flurries, my boyfriend."


End file.
